


you were my perfect storm

by terribledorkness



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Hogwarts AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-23
Updated: 2017-11-20
Packaged: 2019-01-22 01:13:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 26,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12470192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/terribledorkness/pseuds/terribledorkness
Summary: Where does it all begin? It begins when eleven year old Emma Swan crashes into Regina Mills on their first day at Hogwarts. It ends, in all sorts of different ways, in horrible, heartbreaking ways.And then it starts again, decades later, both of them older, and more jaded. Emma Swan crashes into Regina Mills on her first day as the new Charms professor, and this time, it might be forever.{In which Regina and Emma part on the worst of terms, and now Emma's back at Hogwarts. With a familiar threat rising with a vengeance, the two must either learn to work together again, or let their world be consumed by darkness.}Hogwarts AU. SWANQUEEN





	1. Chapter One: Emma makes a moody entrance

_ “The girl?”  _

 

_ “On her way to Hogwarts at this very moment.”  _

 

_ “He’s waited 15 years for this opportunity, you know. A chance to strike down the two Saviors without that pesky little spell they had in the way. His strength is back and this time-” _

 

************

The Sorting Ceremony was usually Regina’s favorite time of the year. New meat, she would joke to her fellow colleagues, and bets on the students sorting from first glance were a popular under the table game. 

 

This year, however, Regina is a bundle of nerves, glancing at a particular brown haired boy, bouncing his way down the aisle along with the rest of the first years students. 

 

Her colleague, Quidditch teacher Marian Locksley, gives her a sly nudge. “Everyone’s betting he’ll be in Slytherin, Regina.” 

 

Regina glares at her long time friend. “I don’t appreciate the fact that even you are partaking in these bets, Marian. He’s your godson, for Merlin’s sake.” 

 

Marian shrugs. “What can I say? And I said Hufflepuff, by the way. My little godson is much to loyal to be anywhere else.” She coos, and Regina rolls her eyes. 

 

“I wouldn’t be so sure.” She says, wryly. “The other day he sold me out to Robin about a joke for a chocolate frog.” 

 

Marian chuckles. “Well, Robin’s  _ quite _ persuasive when he wants to be.” There’s a twinkle in her eye as she says this, and Regina catches on. 

 

“Oh god, Marian! No references to however Robin  _ persuades _ you at the dinner table- please.” 

 

Marian just laughs, throwing her head back, the dark curls spilling down her back. “Aww is that jealousy I hear? Someone need some action?” This raises a few pointed eyebrows from some teachers along the table, who overhear Marian’s loud declaration. 

 

Hissing, “Quiet!” Regina flushes. Indeed, the deputy headmistress stops and gives a pointed glare at Marian, who slouches in her seat, like one of the students down at the tables, before continuing the sorting. “And no.” She murmurs, conscious to be quiet.  

 

Marian gives her a sly side eye. “Don’t think I don’t know what you and oh so dreamy Graham have going on.” 

 

Regina dismisses Marian’s correct assumption with a wave of her hand. “Both of us just agreed to be nothing more than- well you know.” 

 

“Fuck buddies?” Marian says, teasing in her tone. “Friends with benefits? Not that I’d call you friends. Ooooo colleagues with benefits? Um- a bed warmer-”

 

“Oh shut up Mar.” Regina says, lightly accepting Marian’s jabs. Then she sighs. “You know I won’t- I can’t do anything serious. Not...right now.” Regina says, and glances over to the end of the table, where Graham, the groundskeeper is sitting, engaged in conversation with Robin. “He’s a friend.”

 

Marian grunts. “Okay, whatever you say, Regina.” She goes silent for a second, eyeing the crowd. Then perks up.“Oh! Scrawny, shy kid, up front!” She points to the meek boy who trips on the stairs ever so slightly as he makes his way to the sorting hat. 

 

“I say Ravenclaw. His fingers are ink stained.” Marian whispers. Regina hears the tell tale whisper of numerous spells being cast under the table, and looks down at her plate to see the bets being placed, appearing in small golden letters just out of the rest of the hall’s view. She quickly places her bet, seeing her name appear next to Robin’s, who's made the same choice. Over the years, the two had become quite adept at the betting game, the early years at Hogwarts costing them too much money until they learned to observe the telltale signs. Regina, however, was known for being the most observant, and often pulled out of these betting games far ahead from any of the other teachers. 

 

Regina scoffs. “Are you joking? Slytherin, all the way. Just look at the way he positioned himself between those two tall first years. I think he did it unconsciously so...” 

 

Turns out, Regina is correct. Marian grudgingly slaps a galleon in Regina’s hand, under the table as does numerous other teachers. Regina winks in the direction of Marian’s husband, Robin Locksley the Care of Magical Creatures teacher, who’d bet Slytherin as well. He gives her a subtle thumbs up from the end of the teacher, and pats his pile of galleons which he has stacked around his plate, the money split with Regina. 

 

“Robin’s supposed to be on my side.” Marian pouts. 

 

“He’s smarter than that.” Regina laughs, but pats her friend’s hand consolingly. “Anyway, you might win before the night is up.” She eyes the crowd, settling on her fidgeting son, who is waiting for the M names to be called. “Oh god, Henry’s picking his nails again.” She scowls as the boy chews his fingers nervously. “I should hex them so he doesn’t do that.” 

 

Marian looks at her, a twinkle in her eye. “I seem to remember a certain first year chewing her  _ hair  _ before her sorting.” 

 

“Oh shut up.” 

 

“Never.” 

 

However, before the two can delve into further argument, the sound of,  _ Henry Mills!  _ Is called, and Regina sits up straighter. 

 

“Here it is!” Marian whispers. “Gimme gold, I have money betted on this one. Don’t let me down, my lil’ godbaby.” 

 

Regina aims her wand under the table, at Marian’s shoes, tying the two together. Revenge for later. Her best friend can be utterly annoying in important moments like these. 

 

Regina has a good idea of where her son will be; years of climbing out of windows and exploring the woods behind their house have left her with a permanent headache and a suspicion for any requests for extra bedsheets, but also a crystal clear image of which house Henry will be in. However, she doesn’t let on to any of the teachers, knowing they all believe her to think him a Slytherin. 

 

“GRYFFINDOR!” The hat finally cries, after a few minutes, and Regina slumps down in her seat, her pride mixing with the resignation that Henry won’t be as near to her for the next seven years. Which is good, she supposes, he needs a bit of freedom anyway. 

 

There’s a thunderous applause, and also some laughter, as Henry stumbles towards the raucous table of red and gold. All the older students know Henry- many a time has he snuck into Regina’s lesson, having used the floo at their house to test his mother’s endless bounds of patience with her adventurous son. The result, being, however, that the majority of the upper years are familiar with the cheerful boy. 

 

“What?” Marian whines beside her as she slaps another gold coin into a smug Mary Margaret Nolan’s hand, the Head of Gryffindor and Herbology teacher. “But I was so sure!” 

 

Regina shakes her head. “You are so obtuse, at times, Mar. Did the time Henry stole Robin’s broom with Roland mean nothing to you? Or how about when he packed a bag and tried to floo his way to Australia?” 

 

Marian opens her mouth to reply- but before she can, there’s a loud bang, and a cloaked figure appears as the oak doors to the Great Hall fly open. As though it’s timed, the stormy enchanted ceiling emits a loud clap of thunder, and there are a few girlish shrieks from around the room- Regina has to laugh when she sees Robin is one of them. He never did have the stomach for adventure.

 

However, her attention soon turns to the dark outline in the door. Not having revealed itself, Regina’s senses are immediately on high alert. The figure clomps forward a few steps, and under the table, Regina clutches her wand, ready to defend the students. While she can’t sense a direct threat, the years she spent fighting have never really left her. 

 

The hall goes silent, a heavy atmosphere of fear, until the hood is drawn back, and a grinning, if slightly frazzled, blonde woman is standing in the hall. 

 

“Oh- sorry I’m late.” She says, stumbling around the confused first years, and up to the table, the hall erupting into whispers. “Um-” Her confidence falters for the first time. “This is Hogwarts, right?” 

 

“Emma Swan.” Regina murmurs, trying to ignore the hitch in her voice. She recognises the cocky blonde immediately, with an ache in her heart. “Oh god-  _ that’s  _ the new Charms teacher?” She whispers fiercely. 

 

Marian gives her a smug smirk. “I thought you’d enjoy seeing her again. Your old  _ rival, _ back in Hogwarts.” 

  
Regina flushes, and stands up. “Professor Swan, this is Hogwarts.” She doesn’t make eye contact, and curses the red tinge that she’s sure is present on her face. 

 

Emma turns to her, and Regina looks determinedly above her head, not to make any eye contact. “Regina?” She whispers, but it carries across the hall. There’s a crack in her voice, having just noticed the brunette.  

 

Regina doesn’t answer. No no no. She won’t be sad, or angry. Emma is nothing to her right now. Nothing. 

 

“I had no idea you’d be here-” Emma shakes her head. She looks older, Regina realises, but- she still makes the same face when she’s nervous. Her hair is shorter, shoulder length and wavy, and her face is slender. Her eyes- however, are still the same, a mass of whirling green-blue, a hurricane. One that tempts Regina to look right at her, meet her gaze, and be pulled in again. 

 

The Headmaster, August Booth, decides to step in, the whispers growing louder when they realise how exactly Emma and Regina know each other. The Saviors together in one room hasn’t happened since the Final Battle, as it turns out. 

 

Regina’s past is often a subject of excitement for many first years, but she usually manages to stamp their fascination and hero worship with her out of them with some carefully placed intimidation tactics. Emma’s arrival, however, will only serve to make that harder. 

 

“Welcome to Hogwarts, Professor Swan.” Booth says, a signature sly grin on his face. “You’re a bit late, I’m afraid.” 

 

Emma waves her hand. “Oh yeah, I missed the train, and then I tried to apparate here-” And with that, any shock at seeing Emma Swan is gone, and Regina is reminded of the utter stupidity the blonde sometimes possesses. 

 

“You can’t apparate into Hogwarts.” Regina groans, unable to stop herself and Emma hears her, going red at that. Quiet giggles are heard around the hall, and Regina flushes as well. 

 

“Yeah I remember. Now- now I remember.” She hears Emma mutter bashfully, and Regina sits down, stiffly sipping her water and ignoring Marian’s not-so-subtle winks. 

 

“But then I was repelled from the wards and into the forest-” Regina rolls her eyes. “So I trekked here. Sorry if I got mud on the floor.”    
  


A cursory glance at the blonde reveals the fact that there are muddy steps trailing up to where Emma is standing, and Regina grits her teeth in annoyance. Just two minutes here, and the new professor is already wreaking havoc. _ Emma-freaking-Swan.  _

 

“That’s quite alright. Our caretaker Leroy will fix that.” 

 

“Oh man, Leroy’s still here?” Emma grins. “I gotta catch up with that guy, it’s been fucki-ah- it’s been ages!” She catches herself, and then goes red, noticing the silent hall. She turns around and waves, awkwardly. “Right everyone, I’m Emma Swan, and I’ll be your new Charms professor.” Then, turning around, she squelches her way to the only empty chair,  _ right beside Regina.  _

 

The hall is still slightly silent, apart from the occasional giggle. Then murmurs, and finally the hall is full of phrases such as,  _ “The saviour? Here? Do you think that she and Professor Mills can tell us what happened?” “Oh man, both of them that’s fucking awesome!” “Dude, she’s hot, like Professor Mills-”  _ Regina hears that and glares sharply at the oblivious seventh year, who carries on talking animatedly with his friends. The hall is filled with noise, and the first years who still need to be sorted begin to look even more afraid, like frightened little ducklings. Marian chuckles beside her at the ruckus. 

 

Finally, Booth claps his hand, an amused look on his face. “Right, I believe that we should continue! Professor Blue, if you will?” 

  
Professor Blue, the deputy head, nods her head curtly, and turned back to the list. “Neal Nolan!” She calls, and Regina smiles warmly at the shaking blonde haired boy, Henry’s close friend, and son of the ever saccharine Mary Margaret. Regina may be constantly irked by the raven haired professor and her  _ charming  _ Auror husband, but she’s pleased when Neal joins Henry in Gryffindor. 

 

She occasionally glances at Emma, beside her, who apart from the initial hello, has not said a word to Regina. She starts a conversation with Ruby Lucas, the Defence against the Dark Arts teacher. Naturally. Those two always had been thick as thieves, and still seem to be. 

 

She’s briefly annoyed, but pushes the feeling away, and instead chats to Marian, who isn’t too subtle about Emma sitting on Regina’s other side. “Talk to her!” She hisses, but Regina shakes her head, tightly, a warning look on her face, and Marian drops it. 

  
It’s only when the night ends, and Regina has herded the new Slytherin students back to the dorm and is making her way back to her new sleeping quarters (having flooed home everyday for Henry, but that is no longer necessary) that she meets the blonde. 

 

And of course, they smash into each other, in typical Emma Swan style. Because it’s completely her fault, and not Regina’s. She rounds the corner, looking forward to a nice cup of tea and her book, when suddenly she is assaulted by a ball of blonde and muddy robes.  _ Stupid fucking Emma Swan.  _

 

“Watch where you’re going!” Regina snaps, as she and the blonde crashes into each other. “I- Ms. Swan?” She says, caught off guard. The blonde had been running, so she’d thought it had been a student, but of course not, this is Emma Swan. 

 

“Sorry Regina.” Emma smiles hesitantly. “And it’s Professor Swan now.” Cheekily, she winks at Regina. 

 

Regina huffs. “Just- watch where you’re going.” She turns to walk away, before a hand on her elbow stops her. 

 

She spins around, and Emma’s looking at her, a strangely vulnerable look on her face. She opens her mouth to say something, but then snaps it closed, and shuffles her feet. 

 

Regina glares at her. “What?” She can’t help the venom in her tone. Not after everything.  

 

She  _ really  _ looks at Emma this time, sizing her up, and realises that she’s exhausted, with rings under her eyes. Her robes aren’t in a better state, and from what Regina can tell her robes look like they’re made for a warmer climate, rather than the biting cold of Scotland. The last time Regina had heard about Emma had been through a friend, several years ago, that Emma was travelling around the world, a sort of nomadic existence. Regina had tried not to spare the woman a thought after that, because what was the point in wondering after what could have been? 

 

“How long’s it been?” She asks, softly. “Since we last saw each other?” 

 

Regina pauses, not really wanting to go down memory lane with the blonde. “Fifteen years.” She says, curtly.  “At graduation, if you remember.” 

 

“Ah.” 

  
“Yes.” Regina says, stiffly. “Look, Professor Swan, I’m very tired-” 

 

“Emma.” 

 

“I’m sorry?” 

 

“We’re friends, aren’t we? Emma.” 

 

Regina snarls, and there’s that flash of hot pain that accompanies everything about  _ Emma Swan.  _ “No, dear, we are most definitely,  _ not  _ friends. Goodnight,  _ Professor  _ Swan.” She turns on her heels, and stalks out of the corridor, leaving behind a slumped and defeated Emma. 

 

**********

 

_ “Watch where you’re going!” The brunette huffs, her long braid bouncing on her back as she leans down to collect her spilled books. Two seconds before, she’d crashed into a harried student, spilling everything on the ground. Hands reach down to help her, and she slaps them away. “I don’t need your help!” She looks up at the girl, a Gryffindor, who is shuffling, looking slightly guilty.  _

 

_ “I’m sorry.” It’s a sincere apology, so Regina accepts the hand that helps her up. “It’s just my first week here and I got confused.”  _

 

_ Regina nods, slowly, and injects a bit of snark into her voice. “It’s mine as well. I’m not running, am I?”  _

 

_ An annoyed look crosses the blonde’s face. “Look, I said I’m sorry, okay?”  _

 

_ Regina tosses her braid over her shoulder. “Whatever. Now we’re both late. What do you have?” She says, dismissively.  _

 

_ The blonde scowls. “Charms.”  _

 

_ “Me too. You must be in my class, then.” Regina rolls her eyes. “You’re going in the opposite direction.”  _

 

_ “Okay, well fine then, Ms. Know it all, lead the way?”  _

 

_ Regina points at the door directly behind the blonde. “That’s it right there.”  _

 

_ The girl flushes. “Oh. Thanks.” She then sighs, and sticks out her hand. “Emma Swan.”  _

 

_ Regina eyes the hand, before shaking it, shifting her books into one arm. “Regina Mills.”  _

 

_ As soon as she says her name, she knows it’s a mistake. The blonde’s face pales, and a frown pulls at her lips. “Mills?”  _

 

_ “Yes.” Regina says, and the hurt that always comes with the judgement from others about her family is encased away by a carefully constructed mask. “I don’t believe I’ve heard of you. Swan, is it?”  _

 

_ The girl- Emma- eyes her. “Yeah. I’m a muggleborn- I think.” Her shoulders come forward slightly, and her face sets, as though she were about to fight Regina for her right to belong in the wizarding world.  _

 

_ Regina, determined not to let her family’s reputation get in the way of her own life, smiles lightly. “Well this must all be new to you, then. I’m pretty confused as well, though, and I’ve lived around magic all my life.”  _

 

_ Emma’s smile slowly returns. “It is pretty confusing.” The two walk into the classroom, and sit next to one another. “You in Slytherin?” She points at Regina’s badge.  _

 

_ Regina’s mouth twists, still unable to make up her mind about her feelings about her placement. “Yeah.”  _

 

_ “Cool. I kinda wanted to be in that house, before I got into Gryffindor. I don’t know, cunning sounds rather awesome, you know? But apparently they don’t take too well to- muggleborns.”  _

 

_ Regina shrugs. “I suppose. But- I’m... okay with it.” She says, shyly unable to convey her desperation to be viewed as different from her family, in her eleven year old words. Emma smiles warmly, however, Regina’s words accepted.  _

 

_ The class starts, and the two continue to chat, a clear friendship just in reach for each other. Of course, that all evaporates when a blonde girl taps Emma on the shoulder, just as they are leaving the Charms classroom.  _

 

_ “Swan, you don’t want to hang around Mills. Her family is a bunch of purebloods, obsessed with dark magic.” The blonde girl whispers, and Regina flinches slightly.  _

 

_ “I can hear you, you know.” Regina says, the the blonde averts her gaze, as Regina glares at her.  _

 

_ “Ashley, she’s really nice.” Emma says, and turns to the girl. “It’s fine.”  _

 

_ And it is- for approximately one day. The next day, the first class the two share together, Potions, Regina attempts to talk to the Gryffindor, only to be ignored. Put out, she returns to her cauldron, next to her childhood friend Mal, and confronts Emma after the class.  _

 

_ “Emma! Emma wait!” Regina calls, and the blonde stops in the hallway. They’re two little first years, and know nothing of the world or what it holds for them, but Regina feels some connection to the girl, whose face reflected the protective barriers that Regina herself has put up over the years, and the need to fight for her place amongst the wizarding population. Two opposite ends of the spectrum, and yet Regina desperately wants to know Emma Swan.  _

 

_ “What?” The word is curt, formal.  _ __  
_  
_ __ “I- what did I do?” Regina says, frowning. “I tried to talk to you and you just ignored me. What happened?”  

 

_ Emma glowers slightly. “I read some history books, Mills. That’s what happened.”  _

 

_ Regina’s heart stops. Of course. Her grandparents and their push for laws against muggleborns, how her mother was an original supporter of the Dark One until she supposedly ‘renounced’ him. Regina knows this isn’t true- she’s grown up with Rumple around the house, a constant terrifying presence. She shuffles her feet, and addresses the Gryffindor. “I- I don’t think that way.” Her voice is small. She doesn’t ever want to, despite the fact that another bruise litters her back from a few nights before the start of school when she’d told her mother that.  _

 

_ “I don’t want to be friends with someone like you.” The sentence is cold, and Regina feels the insult deep in her bones. As an 11 year old, she’s never really considered the implications of her family’s history, and what it meant for Regina. Emma’s the first person to ever reject her, and boy, does it hurt. After all, no one rejects a Mills. Not even now.  _

 

_ “But I’m- not like them.” Regina’s small face is creased, and her lips pursed in a frown. “I-” She doesn’t get to finish her sentence, before Emma stalks off, joining the gaggle of Gryffindors, who all burst into laughter, and look at Regina, who stands, forlorn in the middle of the hallway.  _

 

_ Regina attempts to explain the situation to Emma, that she isn’t like her mother, and never wants to be- that she, like Emma, is also an outsider in ways she can’t explain. Emma ignores her, however, so Regina does as well, each finding their own friends, and the momentary flicker of friendship they shared nothing but a dim memory. Oblivious to each other, the majority of the time.  _

 

_ That is, until halfway through the school year, Emma hexes her legs together, turns her robes green, and explodes her potion in her face, taking the glorious credit, laughing in Regina’s hurt face.  _

 

_ Regina gets her revenge, however, by making Emma’s ears grow to the floor, and jinxes her to only speak in rude rhymes for the whole day. With that, the infamous rivalry between Emma Swan and Regina Mills is born.  _


	2. Breakfast with the Enemy (but only in Regina's mind)

_ “I believe that it’s her second day, now, my lord.”  _

 

_ “Good, good. When do you expect the wards to be breached?”  _

 

_ “Around five weeks, my lord.”  _

 

_ “That’s not good enough. Tell Jafar that it will be his head sitting atop that golden scepter of his if he does not hurry up.”  _

_   
_ _ “Y-yes my lord.”  _

**********

 

The next morning, Regina sits in her usual chair, grimacing as Emma Swan plonks down next to her without a hello and promptly stuffs a piece of toast in her mouth. Crumbs spill out of her mouth onto the plate, and she gulps down a glass of orange juice, reaching for a piece of bacon next. 

 

“Watch out, you might accidentally eat your plate. Still have table manners that suit an ape, I see.” Regina says with a hint of spite in her tone as Emma hastily gobbles up her food. 

 

Emma freezes, and there’s a definite blush on her cheeks. “I- um-” She drops the apple she was demolishing at a rapid pace, and turns away from Regina. Of course, only Regina could hurt her like that. 

 

Regina swallows, and she recalls something, a memory long forgotten, with a sudden spike of guilt. 

 

_ “Where I lived, well- let’s just say, if you didn’t eat in seconds, you didn’t eat at all.” The rain patters outside, and Regina twines her fingers through the blonde locks, and frowns.  _

 

_ “So that’s why.”  _

 

_ “Why what?” Emma looks up at her, eyes already heavy with drowsiness.  _

 

_ “You eat so fast.”  _

 

_ Emma blushes. “Yeah. I’ve tried- but sometimes, when I’m nervous I just can’t….help it.”  _

 

Regina opens her mouth to say something, an explanation of some sort, but snaps her mouth shut, and shakes her head. She doesn’t owe Emma anything. 

 

“Sorry.” She mutters, before turning to Marian who has just arrived at the table.  She doesn’t register the slight straightening of Emma’s shoulders, who doesn’t turn and acknowledge what Regina said. 

 

“Emma!” Marian cries, before she sits down. “How’s it going, you goose?” 

 

Emma looks up at Marian with a grin, before shooting up to hug Marian, bumping the table with her knee and causing Regina to spill her orange juice with an annoyed hiss. “Oh my gosh, Mar, you took freaking ages to say hi. What’s with that?” 

 

Marian shrugs with a chuckle. “I was going to but someone looked and smelled like a drowned rat so I thought it might be best if you went to shower off.” 

 

Emma rolls her eyes, fondly. “Oh, I’m so grateful for your sacrifice.” She sits back down. “We have to catch up, okay?” 

  
Marian sits on the other side of Regina, and gives her a smile. “Yes- you have a lot of explaining to do- nomadic existence my arse. Where the hell have you been for the past decade and a half? I sent you an  _ invite  _ to my  _ wedding _ Emma.” 

 

Emma shrugs, and scratches the back of her head. “I was in Argentina at the time, Mar. I’m- I’m sorry. Apparition from there is a bitch.” Then she laughs. “And congrats, I guess. I did see the invite-” She blushes. “Sorry.” 

 

Marian shakes her head. “Merlin, Emma. After all these years. Rubes, how did you react?” 

 

Ruby laughs, from the other side of Emma. “Marian, I knew she was coming. And besides, I  went to visit her wherever the hell she was being a nomad.” 

 

Emma takes a bite out of her toast. “Well, besides, letters, right? I’m pretty sure Duckling knows the route to your house of by heart, Rubes. You too Mar.” 

 

“Duckling?” Regina speaks, for the first time since Marian arrives. “What happened to Tangerine?” 

 

Emma frowns slightly. “Oh- Tangerine died a couple years back.” There’s a pause, and Regina’s heart does a double flip, because that owl had been a connection between the two for so long. 

 

“He- he was a good owl.” Regina says awkwardly, thinking of letters sent from tower to dungeon, hastily scribbled notes, all delivered by a faithful pet. Emma just nods, and lowers her eyes.  

 

“You always did have the most ridiculous taste in names for your pets.” Marian says with a snort, ignoring the obvious tension between the two. “Who the hell names their owl Tangerine?” 

 

Emma folds her arms defensively. “Hey! It’s not my fault that Tangerine was orange!” She glares accusingly at Regina, who raises an eyebrow. 

 

Regina grunts. “You deserved it. Or rather he did.” 

 

“Tangerine had nothing to do with it.” 

 

“Oh so his little ‘present’ on my pillow the day after you got him back in second year was just a simple mistake?” 

  
“I trained him all Christmas day for that.” Emma grins and mock whispers to Ruby. 

 

Regina has to laugh- but then freezes. Because for a moment it’s just like old times. And she can’t go back to that, not after everything. “Well you could have changed him back.” She says, and there must be a sharp note in her voice, because Emma inclines her head, and turns to Ruby who exchanges an exasperated look with Marian. 

 

Regina turns to her best friend. “How’s Roland this morning?” Regina asks Marian who pours herself a cup of black coffee. 

 

“Oh Merlin. He’s absolutely devastated that Henry won’t be there at school today. He can’t wait to go to Hogwarts next year. I had the worst time trying to get through the floo with the way he was acting.” Marian signs with exasperation. “Robin’s dropping him off at school- good luck to him.” 

 

“You are just sometimes too cruel to your husband.” Regina chuckles, daintily stirring her own coffee. “I’m sure Henry will miss Roland as well.” 

 

Marian scoffs, and points to the Gryffindor table, where Henry is animatedly talking to a group of boys, Neal Nolan by his side. “I doubt it. But I’ll tell Roland that anyway.” 

 

Regina looks at her son, eyes warming. “I think he’ll be embarrassed if I go over there and give him a hug, won’t he.” 

 

Marian laughs. “Yes, I think he will be. And besides, you don’t want the fresh meat to view you as soft, now do you?” 

 

“Fresh meat?” Emma’s voice sounds from the other side of Regina, and Regina sighs, not wanting to have anymore interaction with the blonde. 

 

“New students.” Regina waves her hand, sipping her black coffee. “Little firsties. I’ve got a reputation to uphold.” She sniffs. 

 

“Regina’s known for being the singular most terrifying professor at Hogwarts, and simultaneously the most popular.” Ruby pipes up from the other side of Emma. “No one knows how she does it.” 

 

Regina smirks. “A long held secret, Ruby, one I will never divulge.” 

 

Marian rolls her eyes. “Regina, you just woo them with your animagi skills while sneering at them with the intensity of an Avada Kedavra. It’s not that hard.” 

 

Regina nudges her best friend slyly. “Really? That’s not what I heard when you tried to channel me one day and accidentally caused a fifth year to fall of his broom.” 

 

Marian glowers. “That was once! And I just had to try it, okay?” 

 

“Sure.” 

 

“Anyway,” Ruby continues, eyes gleaming. “How are you going to manage it this time, with Henry being in one of your classes, eh Regina? Going to let the title of most terrifying go to Mary Margaret this year?” 

 

“Please. Mary Margaret is about as intimidating as a flobberworm. And Henry knows he won’t get any special treatment just because he’s my son.” 

 

“Son?” Emma’s voice is slightly strangled, and Regina blinks, having forgotten the woman on the other side of her for a moment.  

 

“Well- yes.” Regina says, shortly. “Henry, he’s right over there.” She points at the Gryffindor table. 

 

Emma’s eyes follow her finger, and land on the brown haired boy. “And his fathe-” 

 

“Daniel.” Regina says quickly, ignoring the way her heart immediately sinks. Emma’s face drops, for a brief moment, before the mask that Regina knows well settles into place. “Daniel and I got married- three years after-” She snaps her mouth closed. Emma looks as pale as she does, because they both know what Regina was about to say. 

 

_ Three years after you.  _

 

“Three years after- we graduated.” She says instead, stiffly. “But he-” Regina coughs, and takes a sip of water. Usually she can zip through this story quickly, without feeling that all too familiar lump in her throat. She’s become adept at this, the condolences, the pity in their eyes. But she never thought she’d be telling this all to Emma. “He uh-” A shuddering breath, and Regina feels Marian glance at her anxiously, ready to take over like she’d done in the early days after Daniel’s death. “He was killed on the field, in his Auror job and-” She shakes her head, and decides to leave the story there. There’s a pause, before Emma speaks again. 

 

“I heard he passed away. I’m sorry. He was...I counted him as one of my good friends.” Emma says softly, politely but there’s a definite gleam of hurt in the sentence. And not just about Daniel’s death- but Regina refuses to think of that. She then quickly looks back at Henry, and Regina ignores the wistful feeling that is probably present on both their faces. 

 

“A Gryffindor, huh?” She says, waving a hand at Henry and there’s a definite glimmer of mischief in her eyes, all previous discomfort gone. “I guess you didn’t see that one coming, did you Regina?” 

 

“On the contrary, Professor Swan, Henry’s been a Gryffindor from the day he first took the floo at the age of four and crashed one of my lessons. I always knew.” 

 

Marian looks outraged. “What? Why didn’t you tell me? I had money betted on that!” She wails. 

 

“Well what would be the fun in that, dear?” 

 

Emma shakes her head.  “You have a son. I never thought- Regina Mills has a son.” 

 

Regina meets her eyes for the first time since Emma arrived. “You thought a lot of things about me, dear. Not all of them came true.” 

 

Emma diverts her gaze, and a silence befalls the two. Neither notice Ruby and Marian simultaneously roll their eyes and turn back to their food. 

 

_ Fresh meat.  _ Regina thinks.  _ That’s what I’ve got to focus on. The students. Not Emma-fricking-Swan.  _

  
  


*************

_ It’s only around fifth year that their prank war escalates into more obvious pranks and begins to get the two in trouble.  _

 

_ “Detention! Both of you in the trophy room at five!” Professor Blue barks, the newest teacher, and apparently the only one to ever try and willingly put Emma and Regina in the same room together.  _

 

_ Regina blinks. In the four years she and Emma have been at ‘war’ with one another, they’ve never received a detention together. The both of them separately probably are competing for the most detentions in all their years at Hogwarts, but always their detentions have been separate. This is new.  _

 

_ “Professor- I’m sure there must be some sort of mistake-” Regina shakes her hair, still covered in the fluff that Emma had cursed the sky in the Great Hall to rain, down on the Great Hall.  _

 

_ “This is Ms. Swan’s fault. ” She points to the blonde haired girl, who glowers at her. “What? This is your prank you idiot. It’s not even that good by the way. It rained fluff on  _ **_everyone_ ** _.”  _

 

_ Emma just glares back at the brunnette girl. “It was only meant to pour fluff on you. Just because I whispered the spell.” She throws her hands up in irritation. “This wouldn’t have happened had you not blown up my potions assignment on Friday.”  _

 

_ Regina curls her lip. “That wasn’t me! You put in wormwood instead of the chopped star root, so of course it turned you green when it exploded!” However, her eye glimmers with mischief, something that Emma quickly catches.  _

 

_ “Oh shut up, Mills. It was you and we both know it.”  _

 

_ Professor Blue’s lips thin with irritation as the two bicker. “I don’t care about who started what. You both have caused enough trouble for the time being. Detention, at five, both of you in the trophy room. For the rest of the week.”  _

_   
_ _ Regina fumes, and Emma just groans. “Great. A whole week with you. And obviously a new tactic to try and get us to stop this.” She casts a snide glance towards the other girl, huffing.  _

 

_ Regina smirks nastily. “You should be careful in walking around the halls for the next few weeks, Ms. Swan.” A little warning, to make Emma overly paranoid, when the real prank is all set up in Emma’s dorm, a little carefully constructed spell to make her bed sheets stick to her body, like plaster. Courtesy of Mal, whose jinx skills are legendary.  _

 

_ Emma salutes her mockingly, but eyes the corridors with a bit of trepidation. “Thank you for the warning, Reggie.” Regina presses her lips in a thin line at the sound of the hated nickname, but refuses to react. Emma just chuckles, and digs in her bag, and pulls out a muggle camera, snapping a picture of a furious Regina, who is covered in fluff. “Another one for the scrapbook. Fluff prank of October 95’. You’ve got Ruby to thank for this one.”  _

 

_ Regina growls. Ever since their rivalry had begun, Emma has carried around a muggle camera that she had bought during her second year. Snapping pictures of her wins against Regina, Emma claims she has a scrapbook hidden away somewhere, something Regina has searched for every time she’s broken into the Gryffindor dorm. To her chagrin, she has never found it.  _

 

_ Regina just rolls her eyes. “See you at five, Ms. Swan.”  _

 

_ And when five rolls around, there Regina is, dragging her feet to the trophy room, Mal and Marian accompanying her on her walk of utter shame.  _

 

_ “Oh god, a whole detention with Emma Swan. Merlin I hate her.” Regina groans.  _

 

_ “This is your own fault.” Marian chides. “You’re always testing the water with this silly rivalry. I swear, it’s a wonder you haven’t been expelled yet.”  _

 

_ “The reason she and Emma Swan haven’t been expelled yet is because both of them hold the highest scores in each of their classes respectively, due to their need to constantly out do the other.” Mal scoffs.  _

 

_ Regina laughs. “Aww Mal, is that jealousy I hear?”  _

_   
_ _ Mal pouts. “Dammit Regina, I can’t even get a higher grade than you in stupid Runes, and that’s my best subject.”  _

 

_ It was true. Regina knew the only reason she and Emma hadn’t been expelled was because of the grades they constantly achieved. That, and Regina’s mother unfortunately held great influence over the school, and would probably manage to shut Hogwarts down if Regina was ever expelled.  _

 

_ “Well, I’m balls at Herbology and definitely not a star student in Arithmancy or Care of Magical Creatures, so don’t be too envious.” Regina reminds her friend, and Marian laughs.  _

 

_ “That is true, Mal. The other day Regina tried to plant a bowtruckle, only for it to walk away while she was busy getting the fertilizer. Nobody could find it.”  _

 

_ “Those things are hard to find.” Regina sniffs. “They blend in with their surroundings.”  _

 

_ Marian raises an eyebrow. “Professor Green said that you were the first person she’d ever met to have lost a bowtruckle.”  _

 

_ “Huh.” Mal muses. “That actually makes me feel a lot better.”   _

 

_ They reach the door, and Marian and Mal wave her goodbye as Regina gloomily enters the room. Professor Blue is standing in a corner, nodding at Regina as she comes in. Emma is already in there, talking to Leroy, the caretaker, who glares at Regina as she enters. The caretaker had never forgiven Regina for the slime prank she’d enacted on Emma back in their second year. The entire corridor leading up to Emma’s dorm, covered in sticky, green gush. It had been a proud moment for Regina, but Leroy, who had been forced to clean it up, (the prank had never been traced back to Regina even though everyone knew who it was) had detested her ever since. The man could hold a grudge like no other, apart from Regina that was.  _

 

_ “You’ll be cleaning until seven.” Leroy says, grumpily, turning towards the numerous trophies which despite Regina having cleaned them multiple times, are perpetually dirty. Blue turns to the two.  _

_   
_ _ “I trust the two of you will cause no trouble? The door will be sealed with a caterwauling charm so I will know if either of you try to leave. The trophies must all be polished by the end of the week.” Blue sniffs.  _

_   
_ _ Regina sees Emma roll her eyes, but she nods at the stern professor, and casting one last glance at the two fifth years, Blue and Leroy exit the room.   _

 

_ Regina stalks over to the pail of rags, and grabs one, then huffily grabbing a trophy, and begins to clean. Emma does the same, polishing vigorously at a bronze Quidditch trophy, and humming a tune. Naturally, it’s a catchy one, and Regina, to her annoyance, finds it stuck in her head.  _

 

_ “Would you please shut up?” Regina says, after three quarters of an hour. “That’s really getting on my nerves.”  _

_   
_ _ Emma just smiles slyly, and hums, louder. Regina raises an eyebrow, and growling slightly, resists against jinxing Emma, instead casting a muting spell. Sighing with relief, Regina gets on with her work.  _

 

_ Not being able to hear anything, turns out to be her downfall, because halfway through her polishing session, she feels a slight trickle down her back. Eyes widening, she swipes her hand on the back of her neck, and it comes away black, Emma having splashed some kind of polish there.  _

 

_ Growling, Regina cancels the muting spell, and Emma’s laughter fills her ears. Grabbing a pail of dirty water that is lying in the corner, fresh from having been used to mop the trophy room floor, she empties it over Emma’s head, the blonde’s laughter stopping in an abrupt gurgle.  _

 

_ “He-ggmph!” Emma yells as the icy cold water shoots down her head with a splash.   _

 

_ Now it’s Regina’s turn to begin laughing, Emma’s shocked expression making her giggle. However, a muttered aguamenti from Emma causes the front of Regina’s robes to become soaked in ice cold water, and she shrieks with indignation, eyes narrowing.  _

 

_ “We were even!” Regina yells, hastily casting a warming spell. Emma just looks at her smugly, and so Regina just steps forward, and with a nasty smile on her face, blasts Emma back with a powered jet of water from her wand. The blonde shoots back from the power of the blast, landing clumsily against a whole tower of trophies...which then topple down,  _

 

_ Of course, it just escalates from there. By the time the two of them are tired, the entire trophy room is soaking wet and messy, with the two of them shivering, and standing on opposite sides of the room. However, neither can stop grins from spreading over their faces.  _

 

_ “Truce!” Emma calls, and Regina nods, her chuckles subsiding.  _

 

_ “Shit.” Regina says, as she views the wrecked room. “ We’ve got to work fast.” Then a thought strikes her. “How did you keep your wand on you by the way? Blue tried to confiscate mine before we came in here.” _

 

_ Emma shrugs. “Transfiguration spell on a stick. Easy peasy. Funny she didn’t catch on.”  _

 

_ Regina rolls her eyes. “She probably did. But she’s new here, she doesn’t know what to expect from us.”  _

 

_ “You?”  _

 

_ Regina pauses. “Oh, I have a spare wand. My father bought it for me as another...just- just in case.” Regina fingers her real wand nervously, not wanting to tell Emma the real reason she has a spare wand. Her father has no idea she has a spare wand. Luckily, Emma doesn’t catch on the nervousness in Regina’s tone.  _

 

_ “Of course you do.” Emma mutters with a sigh. “Look, we’ve got to get working. If Blue comes back and finds the room like this-” She gestures. “We are dead meat.”  _

 

_ Regina smirks. “Watch and learn. Cleanup spells are quite handy, you know.”  _

 

_ “Hey, muggleborn, remember?” Emma waves her hand, disgruntled. “I didn’t get the luxury of learning some handy domestic spells.”  _

 

_ Regina rolls her eyes. “Dear, these spells are in our charms spellbook. We have house elves to clean up at home.” Emma flushes, and Regina raises her wand, casting a light blue spell. The trophies begin to right themselves, and the room slowly reverts back to it’s original state, the trophies still looking as unpolished as ever. The way the room reverts itself to it’s normal state reminds Regina of something- something familiar. Regina stumbles slightly when the spell finishes, and puts a hand against her forehead. A flash of a memory, and she suddenly remembers why the spell is so familiar.  _

 

_ “Whoa, you okay?” Regina hears Emma ask, and a hand presses against the small of her back. Jumping forward slightly, Regina turns to Emma.  _

 

_ “Yes, I’m fine. This spell is just a bit- much.” She lies, and tucks her wand away.  _

 

_ “Too hard for the great Regina Mills?” Emma says, good humoured teasing in her voice.  _

 

_ “Nothing is too hard for me.” Regina sniffs, a smile playing at her lips, and oddly enough, Emma’s twinkling eyes wipe away any bad feelings that had suddenly hit her after performing the spell.  _

 

_ The two return to their trophies, but there’s an air of peace.  _

 

_ “So, how’d you do on your Charms essay?” Emma calls over from the other side of the room, and Regina groans, though not with irritation at Emma.  _

 

_ “Oh god that was the hardest essay I’ve done so far.” She says, and hears a chuckle.  _

 

_ “Really? I thought nothing was too hard for you?”  _

 

_ “Oh shut up.” Regina mutters, but good naturedly.  _

 

_ The two continue their talk about school, and by the time Blue returns to release them from their detention, there’s an uneasy mutual trust between the two, neither acknowledging it. Regina, not wanting to ruin the blooming understanding, sneaks up the Gryffindor dorm as soon as she can, under a cloaking spell, and cancels the jinx she has placed on Emma’s bedsheets as retaliation.  _

_   
_ _ The week goes on, and each day, Emma sits closer to Regina, the two of them talking. By the time Friday comes around, and their last detention is there, Emma is sitting right by Regina, the two of them polishing trophies side by side.  _

 

_ It’s as though their rivalry might end.  _

 

_ It doesn’t, of course, and Regina has to sigh slightly when her hair turns into a replica of the one and only Medusa, Emma and her group of friends snickering from across the room.  _

 

_ But there’s something between them, between the pranks, and the laughter and the jeers. Insults that used to fly between the two of them, as easy as breathing, now have heat behind them, rather than the distant taunting. It’s odd, but Regina can’t help but like it, the challenge that Emma has always presented. And yet, when the two aren’t bickering, there’s a hesitant smile exchanged over a good score on a test, or the meeting of eyes across a large Great Hall during meals.  _

 

_ Nobody notices, except the two of them.  _


	3. A walk through the past

_ “I suspect Regina will be the weaker of the two. A professor at Hogwarts, out of all the things she could have done.  _

 

_ “Foolish girl.”  _

 

_ “We will imprison or kill Swan, depending on her usefulness, of course, but naturally Regina will come with us. Teaching at Hogwarts won’t have killed her natural talent for the dark arts, you must remember this.”  _

 

_ “Yes, I suppose. Zelena isn’t like her sister- barely good enough as a replacement.” _

 

_ “Are you sure we can break her?”   _

 

_ “Regina’s always struggled against the allure of the dark arts. Her role in the war was the turning point- if she’d been on our side then we would have succeeded.  _

 

_ “Alas, you did not control her enough.” _

 

_ “Nevertheless, it should be simple to turn her to the dark arts, especially since her husband’s death, and the Swan girl leaving her.”  _

 

_ “Good. Then we will attack on th-” _

 

**********

 

“And so then Professor Swan said that by the end of the year, we’ll be able to charm our bags to have-” Henry widens his arms, “this much space! Can you believe that, Mom? That’s going to be so useful.” He continues, oblivious to the way his mother’s face tightens. “She’s so cool. And you knew her, you defeated Rumplestiltskin with her- Mom, what was she like? You two are friends, right?” 

 

They are currently walking the halls of Hogwarts, going to Regina’s rooms, the late Saturday afternoon casting orange shadows in the halls. Regina wants to enjoy the time with her son, but the mention of a certain professor is casting a pall over their conversation. 

 

Henry pauses, waiting for his mother's reply. Regina sighs, fighting to keep the grimace of her face. She can’t exactly tell her son the sordid tale that was 'Regina and Emma’s passionate love affair', so she opts for a neutral answer. “We aren’t- well- not anymore. We had a falling out, years ago right after we defeated the Dark One. But before that...yes you could say we were friends.” 

 

Henry’s eyes relay his interest. “So you aren’t friends anymore? Why? She’s so fun-” 

 

“We just aren’t anymore, okay Henry?” Regina replies softly. “Surely you know that by now. Apparently all the students have a running pool on how long it’s going to take me to curse Emma into oblivion.” 

 

That much was true. Marian had told her, humor clear on her face. Regina supposed that she had been a little harsh towards Emma in public, their interactions for any lessons usually full of Regina being harsh and snappy, and Emma her idiotic and apologetic self like usual. And there had been one altercation that had all but confirmed that theory with the students- 

 

“I really like Charms though.” Henry says, interrupting her thoughts. “I wish you two could be friends.” 

Regina scowls slightly, but turns to her son, attempting to change her frown into a painful smile. “Of course, Charms is naturally an easy subject, Henry. But Transfiguration is more fun as the years progress.” Regina nearly smacks herself on the forehead. Henry is  _ her  _ son, so why is his preference for Emma’s teaching riling her up so much?

 

Henry notices her tone. “Oh Mom, I’m sorry.” He says, immediately becoming more downcast. “I’m just not that good at Transfiguration.” There’s an unhappy note in his voice, and Regina’s eyes soften, and she immediately pushes her own feelings aside. 

 

“Oh, Snitch, don’t be so sad.” She says, softly. “If you like Charms then go for it.” 

 

Henry squirms slightly at the pet name. “Mo-om you said you wouldn’t call me Snitch at Hogwarts.” He blushes slightly. “I thought you said that Charms was a soft subject?” 

 

Regina sighs. “No, dear, I just was never that good at Charms myself.” Of course, that’s a lie- Regina was good enough, but her mother’s opinion on Charms had prevented her from ever practicing the subject more. “That’s why I don’t like it that much.” She grins slightly, and Henry’s expression relaxes. 

 

“Don’t worry, you’re a much better teacher than Professor Swan. She’s really fun, but you’re  _ my  _ favorite- and everyone else thinks so as well.” Henry reassures her, and Regina smiles internally at the boyish loyalty that Henry still holds for her. That will most likely fade in time, but Regina’s glad it’s still there. 

 

“Well, my after hours Transfiguration class is filling up, so I suppose I’m doing okay.” Regina says, and then turns to her son. “Come with me- there’s something I want to show you.” It’s time, she thinks. Despite her reluctance to give Henry something that will help him survive, it doesn’t stop her heart from breaking at the fact that she must now go back to a place she never thought she’d see again. 

 

As a student at Hogwarts, Regina, along with her close friends Mal, Marian and- Daniel  _ (Who Regina tries not to think about) _ had roamed the halls with mischief that had only rivaled Emma’s little group of cronies. Naturally, they’d found many nooks and crannys, Regina’s most fond passageway, a little room behind the portrait of a little sleepy town. Turning a corner, Regina leads Henry into the small alcove in a dusty hallway that holds the photo. 

 

Regina stops in front of the picture, smiling slightly as she sees the familiar smoke curling up from some of the houses. The picture has a life of it’s own- often rainy clouds surrounding the village, and once, a massive fire that Regina had helplessly watched consume dozens of the quaint red shingled houses. However, the next day they had been rebuilt, and Regina had been amazed to see the little figures of people reconstructing the town. 

 

“What’s this?” Henry asks. Regina smiles, secretively, and placing a palm against the picture, braces herself against it, pushing in. The portrait shifts, and without warning, apart from Regina’s inner countdown of  _ three, two one,  _ they are violently spun around, the floor moving beneath them, until they are reversed, inside a dank and dark passageway, the outside of the alcove having switched into the inside. 

 

“Wow!” Henry yells, and his voice bounces of the flagstones that line the passageway. “Mom! This is so cool!” 

 

A whispered  _ Lumos!  _ And the hallway is lit. “I discovered this hall in my sixth year with-” Regina pauses for a second. “Daniel.” She finally says, deciding to omit the actual truth. An automatic wince comes with the name- something she can’t stop. She looks down at Henry’s face, and immediately regrets her decision to lie about the meaning of this space. 

 

Henry looks solemn, if not slightly devastated. “My dad.” The words are a whisper, and memories spin towards Regina, crashing into her with a horrible jolt. 

 

_ “Henry Daniel Mills.” There are tears in Daniel’s eyes as he looks down at the squirming newborn, whose face is peaceful and asleep. “Our son.”  _

 

_ “Our son.” Regina says softly, stroking Henry’s face slightly.  _

 

_ “I promise you, Regina, I’ll look after our family. I won’t- I won’t do what-”  _

 

_ “I know.” Regina says, simply putting a hand on Daniel’s forearm. “I love you, and you love me. We can do this.”  _

 

_ “We’ll be safe.” Daniel pulls her close, the sleeping baby cuddled between the two. “I will protect you.” _

 

_ Regina looks at him, teasing in her tired eyes. “You, protect me?” But her eyes soften, and she smiles. “But I know what you mean.” She looks down at the baby. “We’ll protect him- together.”  _ __   
_   
_ __ Daniel grins. “I know that.” There’s a pause, and he strokes Henry’s sleeping face, the adoration clear in his expression. “But there have been- rumours, Regina about- I mean, we never found the dagger and-” 

 

_ Regina sighs, and nods. “I know. I think we all know that R-Rumplestiltskin is still out there.” She ignores Daniel’s shudder at his name. “And everything that’s happened.” There’s a pause, and both of them decide not to address the heartbreak, the betrayal that’s happened.  _

 

_ Daniel turns to her, a fierce look on his face. “We will protect our son.” He whispers in her hair, and Regina closes her eyes, something sweet in the surrender she can finally allow in her husband’s arms.  _

 

“Yes, dear. At the time we weren’t-” Regina gives a shuddering sigh. “We weren’t...together, but he was still one of my best friends. Along with my friend- Mal- and Auntie Marian.” 

  
“Anyway, we used to come here, just the two of us. It was our special spot.” Regina says, blinking back some tears. She had shared this place with Daniel eventually, in the years when they returned to Hogwarts once Regina had started working there, but they’d never actually gone inside. He’d known about it, of course, but respected the meaning it held for Regina. 

 

“I miss him.” Henry bites his lip, and touches a flagstone. 

 

“Me too, Snitch.” 

 

Daniel had been working at his job in the Ministry- rising his way through the ranks as second in command in the Auror Department, when he’d been killed in action, during his time fighting against rogue supporters of the Dark One- the man that Regina’s family had been aligned with for so long. Of course, it had been classified as a simple stray spell on the field, chasing after a known supplier of illegal potions ingredients, but Regina knew better. 

 

Regina had always suspected that her mother, Cora Mills, had targeted Daniel out of sheer spite for Regina renouncing her birthright as the Dark witch that Rumplestiltskin had trained her to be from an early age, and instead joined the Light side, who had included prominent wizarding families such as the Nolans, and the Lucas’. That, of course, had only been heightened by Regina’s ability to defeat Rumplestiltskin, along with her allies- the Dark One only having survived by luck and patchy immortality, but weakened beyond repair. 

 

She had never told Henry this, who had only been seven when Daniel had died. The wounds were still fresh- Regina having been married to Daniel for eight years, and Henry, for having lost his father. 

 

“It was a month ago. His- his death, I mean. The anniversary.” Henry says, quietly. “I still miss him. But-” There are tears in his eyes now. “I can’t remember the sound of his voice anymore. I don’t want to forget my Dad, Mom.” 

 

Regina bends down, and pulls her son into a hug. “You won’t. Your father loved you so much Henry.” A shot of guilt streaks through her heard,  and suddenly she wishes she hadn’t lied to Henry. 

 

Because she never came to this passageway with Daniel. 

 

It was with Emma, that she’d hidden here with, away from the families warring against each other, the Light and Dark sides that had plagued their friendship from the moment they’d first met. It had been Emma, that made this place so bittersweet- more bitter if Regina was going to be honest. 

 

But this was a special place to her, and she wanted Henry to have it. However, Daniel only brings back memories, memories of an autumn wedding, and a gurgling baby with pink cheeks. Of steady, calloused hands weaving through her hair that had erased worry and pain for sweet, simple moments and laughter. Laughter in a  _ real  _ home, that she’d never thought would be hers- and finally of his face, whispering goodbye to her that horrible morning four years ago. 

 

_ Daniel’s never been good at getting up early in the mornings; on this particular one he’s no better than usual. Regina awakens to her husband tripping over his own feet, at five AM glancing sheepishly at her fluttering eyelids.  _

 

_ “Daniel?” Regina grumbles, her voice thick from a night's sleep. “Where are you going?”  _

 

_ Daniel picks up his wand from the bedside stand, casting a soft lumos to illuminate the dark room. “It’s just work again.” He smiles softly at her, walking over to crouch beside her side of the bed. “Go back to sleep, my love.”   _

 

_ Regina feels her eyelids drooping again, and mumbles, “Not anything dangerous, right?”  _

 

_ “No, nothing dangerous.” Daniel assures her. “I’ll be back before you know it. Might even get some more sleep in before you have to get up and go to work.”  _

 

_ “Okay.” Regina mumbles, and then opens one eye, to glance at her husband. “Love you.”  _

 

_ Daniel brushes his lips against hers, leaning his forehead against Regina’s. Stroking her hair out of her face. “I love you too, Regina.”  _

 

_ “Go catch some bad guys,” Regina says, leaning forward again. “Henry will want to hear all about it.”  _

 

_ Daniel chuckles fondly at the mention of his son. “I’ll be counting on it.” He glances at his watch. “I really don’t want to go.”  _

 

_ “No, stay.” Regina groans, pulling his arm around her. “You aren’t that important.”  _

_   
_ _ “Only the head of the Auror department.” Daniel says, smiling at her cheekily. “On Saturday Henry’s at a sleepover, and I’ll be here all day.”  _

 

_ “Okay.” Regina says, and snuggles back into her covers, relaxing. “Okay.”  _

 

_ “Love you.” Regina feels Daniel’s hand stroke her face ever so slightly, before the sound of his lopsided walk fades away.  _

 

_ “Love you too.” Regina grumbles into her pillow.  _

 

_ Approximately three hours later, Regina is getting ready to floo to Hogwarts for the day when her fireplace roars to life, and she is requested to go to the Ministry of Magic immediately.  _

 

_ What follows, is the worst day of Regina’s life.  _

 

“Come.” Regina straightens up, and wipes the tears that had abruptly spilled down her cheeks. “There’s more. I wanted to show you this place for a reason.” 

  
Regina grabs her son’s hand, and pulls him with her. “I used to come here, just to let go of everything. I often felt it was the only place I could be myself, with- your...father.” Regina shakes her head, guilty at the lie. But what Henry will never know, won’t hurt him. There’s a lot of secrets that Regina has kept from her son, but for his own protection, he can never find any of them out. Because if Rumple ever knew of Regina’s son, of what he was, then everything would become so much harder. 

 

They round the corner, and Regina’s back, back to the days when the war was just a headline, and only when she came home did she have to face her destiny. Back to the days when Potions essays and Emma Swan were her biggest worries. 

 

********************

 

_ They first kiss during an argument.  _

 

_ It’s not like Regina is surprised. Well, she is, because she wasn’t expecting to kiss Emma Swan, not then, not ever. But it makes sense, because arguing was always when the two are most passionate.  _

 

_ They’re alone, in a little alcove, by a picture of a quaint town. The passageway is deserted, but their voices fill the small hallway, the bickering between the two settling down like a heavyweight, something anchoring them to their anger. To Regina, it’s always felt like they were lobbing rocks at each other, wincing when it actually managed to hit the other, but never stopping anyway, because the challenge that it brought was too addictive.  _

 

_ “God, Regina, I told you, I had nothing to do with that fucking prank!” Emma yells, fingers curling into a tight fist. She juts her chin out, and her eyes flicker.  “It was some little shits from first year. How was I supposed to know that their prank would mess up your Defense essay?”  _

 

_ “Oh so you knew about it then.” Regina says, her tone low and dangerous, an odd contrast to the heated raising of voice that Emma usually uses during arguments. “I got a fucking Poor on that essay, thanks to those little idiots!” This time it’s she who takes a step forward, her short stature meaning she has to stare up slightly, but glares nonetheless.  _

 

_ Emma takes a slight step back, and rakes a hand through her hair. But she launches into the argument again, and Regina gulps imperceptibly as Emma braces a hand against the portrait, leaning closer to her. “Well it wasn’t my fault! And yes, I knew that they were going to do something, but when has that ever made me stop a prank against you? It’s definitely not stopped you.”  _

 

_ “We stopped our stupid prank war ages ago, Emma! We’re sixth years now, we don’t have time for idiotic rivalries!”  _

 

_ “Oh shut up, Regina, I know it was you who cursed my hair purple the other week.”  _

 

_ “I did no such thing!”  _

_   
_ _ Emma shifts closer, leaning her weight against the portrait. “Oh yes you did.” Her voice is a low snarl, and suddenly faint red blooms on her cheeks, and her eyes widen as Regina doesn’t move from where they’re standing.  _

 

_ “Just admit that you’re wrong.” Regina says, and her stomach ties itself up in knots. She licks her lips, opening her mouth to speak again, when she meets Emma’s eyes, and whatever she was about to say dies in her throat.  _

 

_ There’s a pause, and Regina becomes aware of how close her face is to Emma’s, and the fact that she keeps on looking at Emma’s lips, and she wants to do something that she can never, ever do because this is Emma Swan, so in order to stop herself from leaning forward and-  _

 

_ “You, Emma Swan, are an idiotic, imbecilic moro-”  _

 

_ Emma leans forward before Regina can say another word, cutting her off, Regina giving an indignant ‘Mmmph!’ as Emma clashes her lips against Regina’s.  _

 

_ For a moment, Regina’s standing stock still, shocked, and then she’s kissing her back- why, she’s not quite sure. All she knows is that her hands go around Emma’s shoulders, pulling her closer, deeper into the kiss. She can feel Emma against her, and as Emma teases her mouth open, and she’s melting, melting into Emma. Their kiss breaks for a moment, and they stare at each other, Emma opening her mouth to say something- but Regina darts forward, pushing Emma slightly off balance, and plants another heated kiss on her mouth.  _

 

_ Then suddenly, without warning, they are whirled around, into a dark space, Regina breaking the kiss and clutching Emma with fear, giving a slight shriek. They both stand in the darkness for a moment, before Regina realises she’s practically entwined with Emma, so she hastily disengages her firm grip around Emma’s middle, blushing slightly. Thankfully, Emma doesn’t seem to notice Regina’s discomfort.  _

 

_ “What the hell?” Emma says, but it’s not about the kiss, because Regina’s hastily cast lumos shows Emma touching the wall in wonder. “What just happened?”  _

 

_ “Well you kissed me. And- then- I kissed you.” Regina decides to point out, and blushes even more, thankful that the wand light isn’t strong enough to illuminate her red cheeks.  _

 

_ Emma waves her hand. “Yeah but we both knew that was going to happen at some point.” Regina splutters, and opens her mouth to protest, but Emma cuts her off. “Where the hell are we?”  _

 

_ Regina rolls her eyes, and decides to tackle the more important issue of ‘The kiss’ later. “It appears we fell through some sort of door. You know as well as I do that there are hundreds of passageways in Hogwarts. It appears that we just found one.”  _

 

_ Emma gives her a roguish grin, and Regina curses internally as her heart jumps. “Well, why don’t we explore then? Two mortal enemies, teaming up to survive the unknown dangers of Hogwarts, what do you say?”  _

_   
_ _ “I hardly think mortal enemies suddenly kiss each other during arguments, but sure lead the way.” Regina says wryly, and feels smug as she sees Emma duck her head slightly in embarrassment.  _

 

_ “Come on Reggie, you and I both knew we were going to snog it out one day.”  _

 

_ Regina frowns, eyes darkening, ignoring the part of her that was to indignantly protest against the declaration of their fated snog. “Don’t- call - me - Reggie.” She says, with gritted teeth, and starts down the hallway. “Otherwise I will curse you till next Wednesday.”  _

 

_ She can practically feel Emma roll her eyes next to her, and a second light illuminates the hall as Emma casts a nonverbal lumos. “That’s what you say every time I call you Reggie, and so far it’s never happened.”  _

 

_ Regina growls slightly. “Just don’t call me that!” She says, finality in her voice.  _

 

_ “Fine, your majesty.” Emma gives a mocking bow, and Regina stiffens.  _ __   
  


_ “That’s much worse.”  _

 

_ “Okay, Reggie it is then!”  _

 

_ “Why you-”  _

 

_ Regina cuts off, her insult dying in her throat as they round a corner, and step into a small alcove, with a dark wooden door right ahead.  _

 

_ “What’s this?” Emma wonders, all fight gone. “Should we open it?”  _

 

_ Regina smirks. “That’s generally what people do with doors.”  _

 

_ Emma snorts, and turns the knob. With a gasp, both of them are greeted by soft lights, illuminating a cozy room, doors aligning the walls in odd areas, nooks and crannies dotting the odd structure of the room, bookshelves stacking one corner, and cushions covering the flagstones around it. The entire feeling is of riddled cheese, as though a simple square structure for the room was much too boring for the architect. Regina steps in, and view the room more fully, gazing it in wonder.  _

 

_ “Ohmygod!” Emma says quickly, and Regina spins around to see Emma pointing excitedly at a large empty bath, that sits around the corner of the door, a large curtain having obscured it beforehand. Emma’s drawn it back, and now is fiddling with the numerous taps that line the marble pool. “There’s a prefects bath in here!”  _

 

_ “How do you know what a prefects bath looks like?” Regina says, raising an eyebrow.  _

 

_ Emma looks at her, rolling her eyes slightly. “Oh come  _ on  _ Regina. You and I both have snuck into those prefect bathrooms multiple times.”  _

 

_ It was true. Regina hadn’t been surprised when Marian had been named Slytherin prefect instead of her, but she’d still been grumpy about the fact that she’d have to use the normal bathrooms for another year. Brilliant grades didn’t mean prefect badge, especially if you were currently the school’s top truant.  _

 

_ So, she’d snuck in covertly, no one knowing, apart from, apparently, Emma. But then again, she and Emma were extremely alike in their thinking, something Regina hated to acknowledge.  _

 

_ Her track record with the school had always been- less than perfect, what with Emma and her practically competing for most detentions held. Nevertheless, upon the revelation of Regina’s poor track record at the school, that had always been hidden by her stellar grades and Quidditch skills, Cora Mills had laid down the law. Regina still hated to think of that summer. A letter home, requesting that Regina attempt to behave better at school, otherwise her position on the Quidditch team would be compromised, and with that came a summer of torture for Regina- quite literally.  _

 

_ Now Regina’s record for sixth year was whistle clean, all the teachers surprised when no retaliation against Emma had occurred after the first prank of the year had been launched, Regina turning up to breakfast, seething as some conjured birds flew around her head, spouting rude curse words at anyone who talked to her. However, Regina had kept her head down, and she’d seen Emma’s annoyance at Regina’s lack of pranks. But Mother was a formidable person, and Regina didn’t want to further incur her mother’s wrath by gaining another detention.  _

 

_ “I don’t know what you are talking about.” Regina says, sniffing slightly. “I’m aiming for Head Girl next year so I don’t do such stupid things.”  _

 

_ Emma raises her eyebrows. “Okay. You do that then.” Turning away, she inspects the bath. “Aw man, this is so much cooler! It even has a blue bubble setting.”  _

 

_ “The prefect bathrooms have a blue bubble setting.” Regina points out with a frown.  _

 

_ Emma turns to her with a smirk. “And how would you know that if you haven’t ever been there?”  _

 

_ Huffing, Regina walks up to the bath. “Well, I guess I’ll be coming here from now on.” She inspects the bath further.  _

 

_ Emma steps around her, and Regina shivers slightly as Emma brushes against her side. Tamping down on her feelings, she turns to join Emma, who is inspecting a layout of thin black mats in the middle of the room.  _

_   
_ _ “It’s a dueling mat.” Regina says, remembering the mats from the numerous training rooms in the Manor she lives in. “They’re magically padded so it doesn’t hurt if you fall down. Also prevents lethal curses from hitting the opponent. And they’re very expensive, so whoever made this room must have spent a fortune.”  _

 

_ Emma’s eyes light up. “Oh wow that’s awesome. I bet Gryffindor did this.” She says, smugly. “He’d want to train here.”  _

 

_ Regina laughs. “Oh I doubt that, dear.” She points to the side of the room, just opposite a small bench, where a large chest sits. “I think that’s a potions trunk, and we all know that potions was Slytherin’s speciality.”  _

 

_ Emma scowls, and stomps towards the chest, opening it. “Yikes, there’s stuff in here that’s pretty rare.” She sounds impressed, so Regina joins her.  _

 

_ “Basilisk fang? How is that possible?” Regina murmurs, fingering the stoppered bottle which a bone white fang sits, elegant script labelling it. “Basilisks haven’t been around for centuries.”  _

 

_ “So this must be a pretty old room.” Emma concedes. “Damn, do you realise what we could do with these potions?” A further glance reveals advanced kits, and potions equipment, and as Regina walks over to the shelves, her suspicions are confirmed. Touching the pillows slightly, she grins.  _

 

_ “This is the Founder’s common room, Emma.” She brings out her wand, and waves it slightly, and suddenly there’s a shimmer in the corner. Tucking her wand away, she walks over to the shimmer, and smiling with satisfaction, walks through the wall. Emma shouts with surprise, but follows her, into what turns out to be a sunhouse.  _

 

_ “Merlin.” Regina breathes, looking around. It seems as though they are at the top of the castle, and sunlight streams through. They’re in a small greenhouse, with a lush apple tree growing in the middle, and numerous plants lining the shelves. “This is Hufflepuff’s very own herbology greenhouse.” She turns to Emma, excitedly. “Do you know how long people have searched for this?”  _

_   
_ _ Emma looks at the apple tree, and plucks one off it, a smile curling at her lips. “Who cares, I’m famished.” She jokes, but Regina snatches the apple out of her hand, and sets it down on the table.  _

 

_ “I’m serious, Emma.” Regina says, and then jolts slightly, the name foreign. “Swan- Emma.” Blushing slightly, she looks at the floor, and then at Emma again.  _

 

_ Emma suddenly looks shy, and she steps closer to Regina, whose breathing quickens slightly. “Should we tell someone? Our friends? Or be- selfish?” She says, with another step forward. There’s a playful tone in her voice.  _

 

_ Regina gazes at the blonde, whose green eyes twinkle. Deciding to play the game, she also takes another step forward, purring slightly. “I don’t know dear.”  _

 

_ Both of them are looking at each other, before Emma reaches out, and cups Regina’s face. The atmosphere changes, and it’s so different from the tension riddled arguments the two usually share, instead turning into something tender, and new.  _ __   
_   
_ __ “Can we- keep it for...us?” A hesitant stutter, and Regina leans into the touch, unconsciously. 

 

_ “I’d like that.” Regina says, voice slightly breathless. They stand there, frozen in the sunlight, a picture of something hopeful, Emma stroking Regina’s cheek ever so slightly, cupping her face with tenderness, and Regina slowly leaning her forehead against Emma.  _

 

_ Without any agreement, the two lean forward together, hesitantly touching lips.  _

 

_ It’s the end of a bitter, heated rivalry- but the start of something devastating.  _

 

_ ******************** _

 

“Wow!” Henry jumps around the room. “Can I bring my friends here?” He asks and Regina gazes around the room, expression carefully hidden. Perhaps it was a mistake, bringing Henry here. 

 

“Uh-” Regina stalls for a moment. “I’d rather you didn’t, Henry. Neal- Roland maybe. But this is….” Yes, definitely a mistake, bringing her  _ son  _ here. “This is a special place.” And it’s bringing back unwanted memories, and  _ feelings.  _

 

The room is exactly how they last left it. Regina hasn’t been back since that last day, the day she and Emma said goodbye forever without realizing it. 

  
“Oh. Yeah I get that, Mom.” 

  
Regina’s breath hitched slightly, as she trails around the room. “Oh my god.” She whispers, and there’s a glass there- lipstick staining the corner. Almost around fifteen years ago, Regina had drunk that glass of water, setting it down with the intent of washing it up in the small kitchenette that stood off to the corner of the room, hidden by a blue curtain. “I- this was a mistake. Henry- can we go?”    
  


Henry looks at his mother, not realizing her agitation. “But I just got here!” He whines, and flops down on the pillows. Regina winces, slightly. 

 

Sighing, she examines the room. Not a thing had changed. There’s no dust, like usual, the room somehow always staying in a timeless condition. That had been one thing she’d loved about it- how she and Emma could escape here, nothing really changing outside, no matter how long they’d stayed. 

 

Oh, how she wished that they could have just frozen those moments, to live in forever. 

 

Touching the spines of the books piled next to the armchair by the bookshelves, Regina lifts them up, remembering the fervous nights of research she and Emma had engaged in here, desperately trying to save everything they knew. Not that it had done any good, of course. They’d never been safe. 

 

“Henry, I thought I was ready for this.” Regina says, stiffly. “But it brings back far too many memories.” 

  
Henry suddenly notices his mother’s displacement in the room. “Oh, I’m sorry Mom.” He says, and gets up from the pillows. “Should we- go back?” 

 

Regina shakes her head slowly. “No, you can go here. But Henry- I showed you this room because- when you are older, you might need it. There are books here, books that will help you with research.” She’s trying to be cryptic, to hide an urgent message among the words that sound innocent. “If you come here, you will find that. But- only come here when you need that research, when you are- in danger.” She says, quietly. 

 

“In danger?” Henry looks worried. “What are you talking about, Mom?” 

 

Regina sighs, and rubs her forehead. “Henry, you know we’ve talked about  _ my  _ mother, your grandmother, and how I never see her?” 

 

Henry nods slowly. “Yeah. And how she was evil and stuff, fighting on Rumplestiltskin’s side.” 

 

Regina feels a sliver of pride go through her, as her son remains untouched by the fear that the imp’s name usually strikes. “Yes. Well- Rumplestiltskin has returned.” Saying it out loud, to her son, makes it different from the worried whispers she and Marian have exchanged, or the pained looks she’s seen on Mary Margaret and David’s faces as they look at the newspapers. This makes it real. 

 

It had been the front headline- Rumple making his debut. Everyone had thought him vanquished, slithering back into the depths of the pits of hell, banished there by the light fighters. 

 

Or more accurately, Regina, Emma, Daniel, Mal, Ruby, Marian, Mary Margaret, and David. The boisterous seventh years with enough courage to make them fearless, and far too much luck. 

 

The eight of them had stormed Rumple’s castle in the hills, their dwindling forces in the war inspiring the kind of stupidity and recklessness that only ever kindled in the young and desperate. They were as good as dead, the eight of them knew it- with their main supporters having either died or fled the country, and Rumple having gained complete control over the ministry. 

 

Regina’s inner knowledge of the castle’s traps guiding them to the heart, where they had delivered the final blow, fighting until there had been nothing left but a falling castle and the eight standing around the bodies of Rumple’s dark followers. Cora Mills, the infamous Queen of Hearts had escaped, only being caught a year later to be sent to Azkaban. 

 

Of course, a year before Daniel’s death, she had escaped, and then Daniel had been gone, gone,  _ gone  _ and Regina knew who had been responsible. She’d also realized that Rumple was back- and quietly began amassing her old supporters, who were now old and battle weary, and of course, in denial of his return. 

 

The war had taken so much from everyone, and Regina had understood. She’d not want to believe it either, so it was only when the Dark One’s sign began appearing again, that everyone realised what had been happening. A year ago, almost to date, the black headlines had proclaimed  _ his  _ return, and Regina had wearily began to plan ways to keep not only Henry safe, but out of Rumple’s eye. 

 

The final battle had been a victory, or seemingly a victory, with their win written in history books, awards distributed by the ministry like candy. But the battle had taken so much, had wormed under all their skins, something that had never completely faded, of course. 

 

There had been casualties, naturally. Such as Regina and Emma’s relationship- withering into dust, a clean break that  _ Emma _ had decided was best- and Mal, of course. 

 

_ A green flash of light whizzes towards Emma, and Regina shouts, letting off a green spell of her own at Rumple, who deflects it. Emma ducks, flashing a roguish grin at Regina, who responds with her own. The heat of the battle it’s made Regina tiptoe on the edge of the precipice that is certain death, and she’s pulling Emma with her. Of course, as another blue spell aimed directly at Regina’s chest makes her laugh, she realises it’s the desperation, the certainty that she’s going to die, that is making her so utterly reckless.  _

 

_ “You think you can defeat me, dearies?” Rumple cackles, his wand a blur, a gnarled hand swishing through the air letting off a sickly yellow curse. “I have power- immortality.”  _

 

_ “And we have  _ **_nothing.”_ ** _ Regina snarls, and Rumple’s eyes widen- ever so slightly, not enough to make a real change in his ever manic expression, but signal to Regina the first hint of weakness she’s seen in him.  _

 

_ “That’s why you can’t defeat us _ **_._ ** _ ” Regina yells again, and she and Emma brush hands, backs pressed against each other, as Emma defends Regina’s attack on Rumple from another one of sycophantic followers. “Because we want to die- we are willing to die.”  _

 

_ “You fools.” Rumple hisses, his gleeful expression morphing into one of disgust. “You will loose everything.”  _

 

_ “Didn’t you just hear what I said?” Regina taunts. “We have lost everything. Our homes, our families, our school. You made sure of that, didn’t you Rumple?” She mutters a skin peeling spell, and the red light shoots out at Rumple, and to her surprise, he only deflects it at the last moment.  _

 

_ “That’s dancing on the edge of dark magic, dearie.” His expression is sly, and reminds Regina of a cat lapping up milk that’s not meant for him. Always taking.   _

 

_ Regina smirks. “ You’ve forgotten me, Rumple. Unlike my little pure white comrades,” She whirls her wand forcefully in the air, and feels Emma next to her, both of them moving in perfect unison, a coordinated machine, well oiled, and unpredictable. “I  _ **_excel_ ** _ at dark magic.”  _

 

_ The whirling stops, and there is a moment of pure peace, and Rumple snarls, anger flashing on his face, he lunges forward and then-  _

 

_ Regina links her hand with Emma, who joins her wand with the hurricane Regina has brewing on top of her wand.  _

 

_ “Together.” Emma whispers, and Regina nods. Then together, they aim the hurricane and Rumple, who tries to deflect it and-  _

 

_ The hurricane hits him, a chain of deadly curses, something she and Emma had been working on as a last resort. The avada kedavra is in the center, the odd calm in the middle of the nasty curses that make up the kaleidoscope of hurricane.  _

 

_ “That’s the first time that’s worked.” Emma murmurs, and squeezes Regina’s hand.  _

 

_ They watch, simply, as the hurricane devours the dark magic that makes up Rumplestiltskin, the simple halfblood, who has always craved dark magic as though it was the very blood that runs through his veins.  _

 

_ A scream rips through the air, and he’s gone, the only thing left of him, an ornate dagger and the dust settling around it.  _

 

_ The rest of the battle hasn’t stopped, Rumple’s final cry of rage not piercing the haze of killing that everyone seems to be engaging in.  _

 

_ For a moment, it’s just Regina and Emma, gazing at the dagger, and then at each other. Regina clutches Emma close to her, and chokes back a sob.  _

 

_ “It’s over.” Regina whispers, and turns to Emma, seizing her in a sudden kiss. Emma responds, and with curses whizzing over their heads it’s dangerous, and passionate- something their relationship has always been grounded in.  _

 

_ “It’s over.” Emma murmurs against her lips. “It’s over, it’s over, it’s over.” She repeats desperately, and presses her forehead against Regina’s.  _

 

_ But it’s not, because suddenly a horrible scream pierces the air.  _

 

_ It’s Mal, and on the other end of the spell that’s literally disintegrating Regina’s best friend, is Regina’s sister.  _

 

_ Zelena Mills holds the wand, and for some reason, there are tears in her eyes. _

 

_ “Mal!” Regina roars, and she can hear Daniel and Marian echoing her yell. Pulling away from Emma, she sprints towards her best friend, Mal, who had been there since Regina had been a little four year old, cradling a blue bruise on her wrist from her mother.  _

 

_ Marian and Daniel are shooting spell after spell, but all Regina can do is stop and cradle Mal, who had fallen to the ground, bleeding heavily. Her legs- are gone- and Regina wants to vomit, because all that’s left is her torso- the rest is  _ **_disintegrated-_ **

 

_ “Mal- Mal!” Regina cries hoarsely, and Mal chokes on something  _ blood  _ and then whispers something.  _

 

_ “I’ll try-” Mal whispers and then- _

 

_ There’s a breath, and it’s though she’s trying to survive, besides the fact that her legs are gone, that the blood that is leaching out of her is by the galleons, and then the breath is forced out of her chest as life rejects the vibrant girl that Regina loves so dearly.  _

 

_ “Mal?” Regina’s voice is small. “Mal? No- nononono Mal please-”  _

 

_ Daniel and Marian are by her side, and they’re cradling her as well, the four together for the last time. A spell zooms towards Zelena, from David, and her wand flies out of her hand and into his grasp. Another spell from Mary Margaret, and Zelena is spinning in the air, across the room, landing hard in the dust a few feet away from everyone.  _

 

_ “Oh my god.” Marian chokes. “Mal-”  _

 

_ Daniel stands up, and there’s a fire in his eyes that Regina’s only seen once before.  _

 

_ “Crucio!” The word shocks Regina. Daniel is a kind soul, and while he may fight in a war, he doesn’t like to cause pain. And now he is hurting-  _ **_her sister_ ** _ who is now writhing under the curse.  _

 

_ “NO!” Regina cries out, and springs up, Mal’s head landing on the floor with a thump, Regina whimpering slightly as she looks back at her friend. “Don’t!”  _

 

_ “She killed Mal!” Daniel cries, and twists the wand even more, so that Zelena lets out a blood curdling scream.   _

 

_ “She’s my sister.” Regina says, and her tone is low, and fierce. Because despite everything, Zelena’s her blood, and she’d been there for Regina when not even Mal could have been. Zelena, though, had been unable to free herself from their mother’s grasp, forever condemned to live in the shadow of her younger sister’s talent, and that had turned her bitter.   _

 

_ Daniel pauses, and the spell stops, Zelena’s last cry echoing in the now empty hall.  _

 

_ It’s only then that Regina realises they are alone. The rest of the surviving Dark followers have either escaped or are dead. They’ve won, but Mal is dead, and Regina doesn’t know how to go on.  _

 

_ “What- what do we do now?” It’s David, and his blue eyes are searching for Regina’s.  _

 

_ Emma is standing by Regina’s side, and she’s dimly aware that everyone has always looked at her as some kind of leader.  _

 

_ “I- guess we...tell the world.” Regina fumbles for Emma’s hand, and then Daniel’s, who is staring at Zelena with fury.  _

 

_ “We survived.” Mary Margaret says, and there’s wonder in her voice.  _

 

_ “Mal didn’t.” There’s horrible venom in Marian’s voice, something very unusual for the normally calm yet sly Slytherin.  _

 

_ “I’m sorry.” Mary Margaret looks ashamed. “I- I liked Mal.”  _

 

_ “Yeah well so did we.” Daniel spits, and then kneels by his friend’s body. “The bitch took off her legs.”  _

 

_ Zelena is on the other side of the room, and there’s a weak chuckle that makes Regina grit her teeth.  _

 

_ “We all know how much you loved those legs, don’t we Daniel?” Zelena’s taunt is enough to create rage, boiling in her gut, so much so that it’s only Emma’s comforting hand on her shoulder that stops her from giving into the whispering temptation of dark magic. That, and Zelena’s her sister. Her  _ sister. 

 

_ “Shut up!” Daniel says, and there are tears rolling down his cheeks. “She was my best friend, Zelena- damn you!”  _

 

_ Regina stares at her sister, who is panting, hunched over leaning against a cracked wall. Zelena still manages a cynical smile, eyes fixed on Mal’s body with nothing but blank exhaustion in them. “This is war, Daniel. You forget. I would kill all of you- I would kill  _ Regina _ if I had my wand on me.” Then she slumps forward, eyes closing. “Take me to Azkaban. The Dark One will return, and I will be rewarded for my loyalty.” There’s a monotony in her tone and the rage that Regina is fighting hard to control lessens as she hears her sister’s voice. She reaches a hand up, from where it was cradling Mal’s head, onto her shoulder, where Emma’s hand is. She clutches it tightly.  _

 

_ “That’s never going to happen.” Emma says, fiercely. “We won, Zelena. We will be remembered as heroes, and you as nothing more than a footnote, an evil witch. Now we get to have our lives, forever, our  _ **_happy endings_ ** _ and you will rot.”  _

 

_ Regina clenches Emma’s hand tightly, believing every word.  _

 

_ And oh, did they get their history books, and their awards-  _

 

_ But Regina never got to have her happy ending, not the one she had looked to, with the blonde standing by her side that day.  _

 

Regina is jolted out of the memory, by an impatient Henry. 

  
“Mom- what are you saying?” 

 

It’s only in the safety of this room that Regina dares to talk the war, and how it will affect Henry. Here, she can tell her son the danger that they are in, even in this very moment. 

 

“Henry, you know of my role in the war, don’t you.” 

 

Henry scrunches up his nose. “Well- what you told me. And it’s sorta on the syllabus this year.” 

 

Regina sighs. That it was. Their history books had inspired legends. Of course, it only held the details of the battle, the role of the famous eight. True to Daniel’s word, Zelena had become little more than a footnote for more than ten years, until her escape from Azkaban with Regina’s mother. But ‘famous eight’ had been revered, bringing about a blessed fifteen years of peace that the wizarding world had desperately needed. Mal had been honoured, of course, her role in defeating the infamous Peter Pan, Rumple’s sinister potioneer, legendary. 

 

And Emma and Regina had been crucial in Rumple’s defeat, their combined hurricane spell discussed in great length, the theory, and how it was possible. 

 

Nobody had been able to replicate it, and to this day, Regina firmly believed (even though she had never said it) that the reason they had been able to cast a famously impossible curse that had only been  _ talked  _ about by Merlin himself, was because of the love they had held for each other. A brief, fleeting love, however, one that had consumed her until it had gone. For years after Emma had left, before she and Daniel had become more than just friends, Regina had felt like she’d been cheated. Cheated by Emma, cheated by fate out of a love that was supposed last the ages. 

  
Only a few people were aware of Regina and Emma’s relationship, because by the time the newspapers had become interested in the young hero’s love lives, Emma had been on her way to travel around the world, leaving Regina with a broken heart, and a hardened soul towards romance. 

 

Until Daniel, but that had been a story that Regina had never thought possible. 

 

“Well you’ll find out that everyone thought that Rumpelstiltskin was dead. But he isn’t and I’m afraid he’ll come after you. Because I defeated him last time.” There’s a crack in Regina’s voice, and she grabs her son’s hands, clutching them. 

 

“So if anything happens to me, come here. There’s books, spells, food- things that will keep you alive.” 

 

“Mom- I’m - I don’t get it-” Henry is confused, and Regina’s heart breaks, because this is her eleven year old baby boy. He doesn’t understand that this has to be done, because Regina knows in her soul that by the end of the year, Rumple will have come after her. 

 

“My darling Snitch.” Regina smiles sadly. “I wanted to wait to tell you. I wanted to protect you. But I’m afraid that you will need to grow up, my darling. I don’t want to leave you without any help. I will defeat him, I promise you. But you need to be safe, and this room can give you that.” 

 

Henry nods, but there are tears in his eyes. His afternoon with his mother has turned into something else, and Regina hates that she has to do this. “Mom, I’m scared.” 

 

“Oh, my darling.” Regina’s heart breaks slightly. She pulls Henry into a tight hug, kissing his perpetually messy brown hair. “I don’t want you to be. You’re safe in Hogwarts, I want you to know that. Six of us who defeated Rumple work here, you know that. You know I just want you to have every possible way of protecting yourself.”   

 

Henry nods, and sniffs. “I know.” 

 

Regina pulls him back, and pushes the memories and the thoughts and  _ everything  _ that this room and talk of the war brings back. “How about we go get some biscuits and tea in my rooms, alright Henry?” 

 

Henry nods, sniffing again, and as Regina leads him out of the room, she pauses. “Just go outside, for a bit, Henry.” She says. “I just need to- check something.” 

 

Henry nods, and walks out, a bounce returning to his step. Hesitating, Regina pushes against the fake wall, the one that leads to the greenhouse. Entering, she sees the apple tree, and gasps. 

 

There it is, the pile of cushions that she and Emma had dragged in here, to spend a night under the stars, their last night together. Before everything had changed, had died, and withered, so very suddenly, much like the tree the last time she’d seen it. 

 

But now, it’s lush, and blooming. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, a lot of flashbacks here, but prepare for some more action next chapter. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!


	4. A foe returns

_ “We are ready, Rumple. Today’s the day.” _

 

_ “Finally. We shall depart in an hour-” _

 

**********

 

“Everyone, please settle down.” Regina says sharply, pinching the bridge of her nose between her fingers. It’s a Friday afternoon- her least favorite class, because all the students want to do is be free of lessons, and enjoy the weekend. 

 

A month has gone by since Hogwarts started up again, and so far it’s proving to be exhausting. 

 

The class eventually quiets, and Regina taps the blackboard with her wand. “Today, we will be learning partial animal transformation.” It’s her fifth years, and Regina smirks as she hears excited whispers. This is, after all, a practical lesson, and everyone has always enjoyed it. “As an example-” She points her wand at the teacup in front of her, and slowly, a birds beak begins to form from the cup. “Focus on the animal that you want, but only on the aspect of that animal for the partial transformation.” The beak snaps slightly, and the class giggles. Regina smiles slightly, and then with a wave of her wand, turns the teacup back to normal. “Alright, get back to it!” 

 

The class busies themselves, and Regina sits back, watching with a careful eye those that need help. They all seem like they have their transformations under control, except for Paige Hatter, but she’s always had trouble with partial transformations of any kind. 

 

Regina is about to go over and help Paige, when suddenly, she hears a loud bang, and the ground shakes. The entire class shrieks, and Regina rushes out the door. “Everyone, please stay in the classroom!” She calls behind her. 

 

Out in the corridor, she sees Emma come out of her classroom. “Was that you?” Emma yells, over the rumbling. 

 

“No!” Regina yells back, but with a glare, because keeping up her reputation of hating Emma Swan even in a crisis is important. “I thought it might be you! You do have the uncanny knack of making a mess out of things.” 

 

Emma shrugs, a small smirk forming on her face at Regina’s words, and takes out her wand, a faint glow coming out of it. “The disruption is coming from the Great Hall.” She says, and bites her lip. “Should we check it out?” 

 

There is a giant shake, and Regina stumbles slightly. “Obviously.” She answers with a grimace. “Everyone, please stay calm!” She shouts at the mass of students behind her, fearful faces on every one of them. “Stay in your classrooms!” Of course she doesn’t expect that from scared students, but she tries it anyway. She holds out her wand in front of her, and for a moment, amidst the noise, and the rumbling, it’s like old times. She can see by the bittersweet expression on Emma’s face that she feels the same. 

 

They rush towards the Great Hall, stumbling as the castle shakes underneath them. With every step, the trepidation in Regina’s chest grows, and she refrains from cursing. Any teacher whose class might have caused this kind of disruption would have gotten the incident under control by now- unless it was bad. And this makes Regina’s mind immediately switch to Henry, who is currently in Defence against the Dark Arts, and therefore in a magically charged area. 

 

But what greets her when she reaches the Great Hall is far, far worse. 

 

In a swish of gold and red, memories that have long haunted Regina are back in full force. Rumple, and Cora, at the front door, wands out, dressed in ornate robes with a protective bubble surrounding them. Regina refrains from being physically ill; those two had made her life a living hell for the majority of her childhood, and seeing them both again together only heightens the hate she holds towards both of them. 

 

Headmaster Booth is already shootings spells at them, but August was never so strong in dueling. Regina spots Marian elbowing her way through the mass of students that have gathered, watching in awe and also fear, as the Dark One and the Queen of Hearts stand before them, both alive, and both dangerous. 

 

“Shit.” Emma hisses under her breath, and Regina’s heart clenches. “I guess we were right.” She then glances at Regina who realises that she must look sick. “Are you alright?” She murmurs, and makes a movement with her hand as though she wanted to comfort Regina. Regina moves away, and Emma’s hand retreats, a guilty look twisting her face. “Sorry.” 

 

Ignoring Emma, and her question, Regina goes over the last time she saw Rumple. What had they missed? 

 

Then it hits her. 

 

“The dagger.” Regina murmurs, and she is well aware of students staring at them. “We should have destroyed the fucking dagger.” She can feel Emma tightly nod beside her, and then heave a massive sigh, their past mistakes haunting them as they watch Rumple grin, not a weakness in sight. “Fuck fuck fuck.” 

 

“It’s not your fault.” Emma says with a grimace. “By the time we realised what it could have been it was gone.” 

 

“I am well aware of that, Emma.” Regina snaps, and frowns again, because  _ dammit  _ she’d become so good at avoiding using Emma’s first name. 

 

If Emma notices that Regina has called her  _ Emma  _ for the first time in a decade and a half, she doesn’t acknowledge it. Instead, there’s a familiar tingle in the air, as the magically charged area begins to infiltrate their senses. “Well?” Emma raises her eyebrows at Regina. “You up for this?”

 

Regina snorts. “It doesn’t look like we have much choice, dear.” Then, she inhales, strongly, and the two of them disappear with a fluid wave of her wand, and next to August, who breathes a sigh of relief. The wards are down, so they can apparate inside of Hogwarts, something that makes Regina frown, because this means that whoever broke the wards is scarily powerful. 

 

“Damn you two. What took so long?” He mutters, ducking as Cora shoots a nasty yellow curse. “You know I’m terrible at duelling.” 

 

“Don’t worry.” Regina stands motionless, and, as she suspected, no spells come her way. Cora and Rumple are waiting for her and Emma to begin the battle.“They aren’t duelling you. You’d already be dead if they were.” Then, in unison, both she and Emma launch into action, a clear goal in their mind. “They want us.” She whispers, right before the first green spell streaks past her arm, as she narrowly dances past it. 

 

Cora and Rumple begin to duel in earnest, and August ducks through the back of them, to cast protective barriers where the students are, blocking them from trying to enter the battle. Already, a few cocky seventh years have attempted to do so, only to be blasted back by either August, softly landing back on the stairs, or hit by a spell from Rumple or Cora. Regina can sense a few crumpled bodies behind her, and prays that Henry wasn’t one foolish enough to try and think he could duel the Dark One and Cora Mills. 

 

It’s without thinking that she and Emma return to their usual fighting style; the subtle nods and hand motions, spell after spell shooting towards Rumple and Cora. They switch between the two- sometimes Regina is battling her mother with heaviness in her heart; and other times she is shooting spell after spell after spell at Rumple, who she has no trouble at all trying to kill. Of course, she leans towards the light spells, although her mouth itches to try and taste the words of a nice flesh eating curse that would make Rumple scream. 

 

But no, one must have restraint. 

 

Regina doesn’t know how long they battle, only that at points she feels free,  _ liberated.  _ She’d tried her hand at duelling in competitions after the ‘Final Battle’, but found that many had been too eager to beat her due to her reputation, and that winning the competitions didn’t bring her the same rush of adrenaline as a battle did. She tried to confide in Daniel once, the utter glee she felt when her opponent would fall during the war, but he had only looked at her with shadowed eyes, a war hardened Auror only fighting to make the world a better place, and she’d realised that he would never understand. 

 

But feeling Emma move beside her, their wands flashing sometimes in unison, always keeping a rhythm, she knows that the one person in the world that might feel the same is right beside her. 

 

Like usual. 

 

Only, Emma’s slightly out of practice, and Regina is trying to protect the students, who are only protected by meager shield spells. Rumple can break through them in an instant, if he wants to, and he knows it, so he backs her into a corner, occasionally shooting spells at the barrier to tire Regina out. 

 

August tries to strengthen the wards, but they don’t have enough time, and the screaming students are exactly helping matters. Regina can sense a few prefects and the Head Boy and Girl trying to get things under control; and yet it’s not helping things much. 

 

“It won’t be as easy this time, dearie.” Rumple finally speaks to her, his yellowed teeth beaming at her through the flash of spells. “Your mother and I have such  _ plans  _ for you and your….friend.” 

 

“She’s- not - my -friend.” Regina grunts, as she non-verbally casts a protection spell around herself as a dusty grey curse shoots past her head. Regina notices Emma cast her a wounded glance, two feet off where she is currently trying to dismember Cora, and Regina raises an eyebrow, blasting Rumpel back with a flick of her wand. “Well, you aren’t! Not for fifteen years, anyway.” 

 

“You don’t have to announce it to the whole world.” Emma says, a whine evident in her tone, but then Cora manages to get out of the corner Emma has her in and their brief exchange is over. 

 

Rumplestiltskin has picked him up from the floor, and dusts the leathery coat that he is wearing. Regina grimaces, tales from her childhood of the coat being made from the skin of his victims coming to mind. “Dearie, dearie, you’re going to have to try harder than that if you want me gone?” He lilts, and holds his hands up, wand held loosely in his left one.

 

“Last time you only defeated me through the power of  _ twoo love _ , but this time, I see you and- should I say-  _ ex-lover  _ not friend, are quite out of true love.” Then he moves his hand down in a lightning fast motion, and Regina jumps out of the way as a muttered  _ Avada Kedavra  _ from the man creates the deathly green light that rushes towards her. 

 

Regina registers the gasps around her, from Rumple’s comment and winces, thinking of Henry. Emma glances at her, and her expression has something in it- a mix between  _ oh shit  _ and reminiscence. Regina shrugs back, and decides to ignore Rumple’s comment, which was probably intended to cause Regina to lose her focus. Instead, she shoots another spell at Rumplestiltskin, and Emma launches back into her fight with Cora. 

 

She makes a mistake, though. Her eyes flash up to her son, who is now in visible view, watching her with wide eyes. But at that moment, Rumple’s eyes look up as well, and he grins, a sharky, tooth filled grin, that only speaks of triumph. 

 

“A little birdie told me you had a son.” He says, his voice slithering through the Great Hall. “Let’s see if Mommy can protect her precious boy.” He turns towards Henry, already muttering the words to a curse- which one, Regina does not know. She doesn’t try to find out, her body already moving on instinct 

 

A flash of light, and Regina’s apparating towards her son, into the middle of the air, hovering above the balcony. She has one moment, one moment of connection, where she looks in Henry’s eyes- where she tries to say I love you- she’s reaching her hand out just to comfort him because he’s crying and shouting and then- 

 

Something hits her in the back, and  _ oh  _ it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, and she’s falling, and something cracks her skull and there’s yelling and  _ Henry  _ is he safe- 

  
  


The world goes dark around her, and the last thing Regina hears, is Emma screaming her name. 

 

*************

 

_ “The war’s over.” Emma says, and there is something hesitant in her smile, but also hopeful. They’re holding hands, in a rare display of romance, brooms in either of their hands. While the heavy sadness of Mal’s death still hangs in the air like a heavy weight, Regina pushes aside the sharp grief in her chest for now. Instead, she focuses on the future- something all of them are doing. It’s the only way they can survive.  _

 

_ “It’s done.” Regina replies softly, and then takes a deep breath. “And we can be together.”  _

 

_ “Not that that ever stopped us before.” Emma says with a smirk, and leans in to kiss Regina. Then she stops, just a few inches from Regina’s lips. “Well, we can be together, together, now. No more hiding.”  _

_   
_ _ “No more hiding.” Echoes Regina, and then it’s her turn to smile. “My mother can’t hurt us anymore.” Then her expression darkens. “Not freely, anyway.”  _

 

_ “She won’t get to you, Regina.” Emma promises, and clutches Regina’s hand harder. “I’ll make sure.”  _

 

_ “My hero.” Regina replies in high falsetto, making Emma laugh. She leans her head against Emma’s shoulder, the other girl putting an arm around her waist, and the two of them fall into a comfortable silence, looking at the manor that had been Rumple’s main headquarter for the past ten years. The cold marble mansion stands proudly on the grey cliffs, waves audibly crashing against the sharp rocks, underneath the sheer rock face that the house sits on. Regina shivers as she sees the distant body of a Dark follower below; the eight had blasted their way through the defenses of Rumple’s guard with little care for the life lost. Only now did Regina truly think about all the people she’d killed today.  _

 

_ “Hey.” Emma nudges the girl next to her softly, noticing her staring at the water below. “Knut for your thoughts?”  _

 

_ “I was just…” Regina trails off, and then shakes her head. “I’m afraid.”  _

 

_ “Of becoming like her?” Neither one of them have to clarify who they are talking about. _

 

_ Regina nods, Emma understanding her thoughts instantly. “We killed people, Em.”  _

 

_ “Bad people.”  _

 

_ “But people nonetheless.” Regina persists, and Emma’s arm shifts protectively around her shoulder, clutching her tighter. “She used magic, so- so carelessly. I don’t ever want to do that.”  _

 

_ “You don’t.” Emma replies, and places a soft kiss on Regina’s dark hair. “You are noble, and brave. God knows how you ended up in the Slytherin house.”  _

 

_ “The hat offered me Gryffindor.” Regina says, with a smirk. “But I asked to be in Slytherin. And let’s be honest, I am better suited there.”   _

 

_ Emma opens her mouth to reply, a teasing look already on her face, but suddenly they hear a shout behind them. It’s David, running towards them.  _

__   
_   
_ __ “Guys.” He wheezes, coming to a halt in front of them. “Tha- that weird dagger thing? Do you guys have it?”  

 

_ “No.” Regina says, with a frown. “Could it be-”  _

 

_ “A horcrux?” David shakes his head. “We destroyed them all, didn’t we?”  _

 

_ “Yes.” Emma says, firmly. “Maybe one of his followers took it- for what reason I don’t know.”  _

 

_ David nods, and then gestures to the house, where four other figures are heading towards them. “We have to go soon.”  _

 

_ Regina grasps Emma’s hand. “Do you think we’ll be able to finish our last year of school?”  _

 

_ David and Emma both laugh, exchanging glances. “Only you, Regina would want to go back to school after this.” David says, with a chuckle. “But yeah, I think we will. Be stupid not to let us back in after we’ve saved the wizarding world, don’t’cha think?”  _

 

_ The waves continue to crash against the rocks below, and the remaining seven light fighters disappear with a ‘pop’ of apparation.  _

 

_ However, what they don’t notice as they leave, is dark wisps of air, curling around the house after their departure, and then disappearing inside.  _


	5. Mother, I'm home

_ “She has a son.”  _

 

_ “Yes, it seems that I am a grandmother.”  _

 

_ “How did she keep it a secret, all these years? How?”  _

 

_ “I don’t know. But going to Hogwarts was not a clever move, in my opinion, if she had wanted to keep the boy hidden. Which reminds me, how  _ _ did  _ _ you find out?”  _

 

_ “A...little birdie.”  _

 

_ “I’ll find out, you know, who your informant is.”  _

_   
_ _ “Either way, they’ve given me more than enough information about Regina. But we must capture the boy.”  _

_   
_ _ “Yes. He is everythi-” _

 

***********

  
  


“Tell us.” 

 

“No.” 

 

“You need to tell us about the Final Battle. How did you defeat Rumplestiltskin?” 

 

Regina looks at the two figures in front of her, and spits on the ground. “Fuck you.” 

 

The next thing she sees is stars, as a hand slams into the side of her face, and her head is thrown to the side. Groaning, Regina draws her head back to focus on the two men in front of her. George Spencer and his son James, the latter shaking his gloved hand trying to get rid of whatever  _ pain  _ he might have gotten out of the brutal backhand slap. 

 

The last thing that Regina knew before this, was falling to the ground, and Henry screaming.  _ Emma  _ yelling her name. Did she make it? 

 

Regina hopes to all the gods there are that Emma’s trying to rescue her. And that Henry is safe, not here in dark place, where he will be twisted like Regina was. 

 

But she’s here, in a dank little cell tied to a metal chair with two of her mother’s henchmen in front of her. 

  
Day one. 

 

“We can do this the hard way, or the easy way, Regina.” George says, calmly. He’s always been a patient man; playing the long game. When Rumplestiltskin had been defeated, he’d wormed his way out of prison, all the proof against him crumbling like sand.  _ The long game.  _ George Spencer was a slippery eel of a bastard, and that’s the only reason Regina’s slightly cautious. Because he isn’t like his son, and will wait for however long he needs to to get information. 

 

“Now Spencer,” Regina chides, lisping slightly as her lip begins to swell. Both men look at her, and she directs her gaze at the younger one. “Is that any way to treat a former teacher of yours? ” 

 

If James is irritated by her lack of response after the hit, he doesn’t show it. “Sorry Professor.” He smirks, and then backhands her again, and Regina sucks in a deep gulp of air as the pain explodes on the other side of her face. “Bitch.” He spits, and Regina forces herself to look calmly ahead as James meances forward. “Let me have a go at breaking her.” He leers, looking at Regina and then his father. “Failed me in transfiguration in sixth year, she’s the reason I couldn’t become an Auror. Gave me so many detentions- well, now the tables have turned,  _ haven’t they,  _ Professor Mills.”  

 

“Some Auror you would have been.” Regina murmurs, and the ropes around her wrists chafe slightly. “What, with the Dark Mark that’s branded on your wrist.” James scowls, and shoves down his sweater’s sleeves, covering the ornate dagger tattoo on his wrist. “You were never really the brightest boy, did you know that?” Regina smiles, a grim one. “What, did you think that you could help save Daddy if it came down to it?” She mocks, and then immediately steels herself as James starts forward again, his dull eyes sparking with rage. 

 

“James,” Spencer puts a restraining arm on his son's shoulder. “You can have your fun with her later. But for now, we need to keep her  _ alive.  _ We don’t know yet what the Dark One wants with her, and the Queen of Hearts told us directly, to keep her daughter’s heart beating. I suppose so she can take it out herself later.” 

 

“My mother goes by that ridiculous name, even amongst her own followers?” Regina murmurs, sneering slightly. “The woman never really did know subtlety, now did she. It sort of gives away her craft, so people know what to expect-” She breaks off as a brutal kick is aimed at her legs, and she groans loudly, leaning as far forward as she can against her bindings. Straightening back up, she tosses the hair out of her face, and then, panting rolls her eyes. “Is that the best you’ve got?” 

 

“Oh no.” Spencer replies, and then brings out his wand. “James prefers to use...muggle methods, but I am much more fond of a few creative spells. Much less….messy.” 

 

Regina nods, and looks at Spencer. “Well, get on with it.” 

 

“I’ll ask you one last time; how  _ really  _ did you defeat Rumpelstiltskin at the final battle? We both know it wasn’t  _ true love  _ or that hurricane spell you and the blonde bitch managed to form. Tell me now, and I won’t hurt you.” 

 

Regina resists the urge to laugh. Of course the two most heartless beings in all the world would never believe that magic could be borne out of love-  _ pure  _ and  _ true  _ love. Which is what she and Emma had. But Regina also knows that whatever answer she gives them, it won’t be enough. They’re searching for something more- something that Regina’s hidden for years. 

 

Regina shakes her head, chuckling slightly. Drawing a deep breath, she looks him directly in the eyes. “We both know that I don’t give in  _ that  _ easily.” And she won’t. She won’t ever, because that is betraying Henry, and Marian, and Mary Margaret and David. It’s betraying Ruby, and Mal, and Daniel. 

 

It’s betraying Emma. 

 

They all fought for this cause, they all helped defeat Rumple. And Regina would rather die than give up that sacrifice, just because a man threatened her with  _ pain.  _

 

_ If my mother thought that pain was the way to get me to confess, she’s delusional.  _

 

_ Emma will find me.  _

 

Regina doesn’t scream when the  _ crucio  _ hits her the first time. Not the second time, or the third either. But when Spencer decides to use a more brutal cutting spell, slowly carving into inches of her flesh, she gives in- 

 

_ And yells.  _

 

*********

_ “Regina.”  _

 

_ “Emma?”  _

 

_ “I love you. You know that, right?”  _

 

_ Regina props herself up on her elbows, and shoves her glasses up into her hair. The book she’s reading, laying on one of the pillows in the Founder's room cushions her, and she looks at Emma who is lying against one of the bookcases, another heavy tome open on her lap. Emma’s licking her lips, and her face is very red, eyes flickering anywhere but Regina.  _

_   
_ _ “No, I didn’t know that.” Regina answers, keeping her tone even despite the fact that her heart is beating as fast as a racing horse.  _

 

_ Emma looks down at her hands, and then back up at Regina. “Well I do.” She sounds almost defensive, as though Regina would demand that she retract the statement. “I love you more than...more than I’ve loved anything.”  _

 

_ “Oh.” Regina says, softly, surprised. “Well- I- I love you too.”  _

 

_ “You do?” The expression on Emma’s face is like the sun breaking free of the clouds on a rainy day. It makes Regina’s heart leap and stutter at once, and she smiles.  _

 

_ Getting up, Regina sits down beside Emma, and takes her face in her hands. Stroking Emma’s cheek, she says, “I do. I never thought I would find anyone worth loving. Everyone I’ve ever loved in my life has either watched me get hurt or done the hurting.” The sympathy in Emma’s eyes doesn’t make Regina recoil like it does when that same sympathy shines in Marian’s, or Daniel’s, or even Mal’s. Instead, Regina realises that Emma understands. “But you- you are worth loving.”  _

 

_ “Oh.” Emma says, and her voice wavers slightly. “I’m glad.”  _

 

_ “Me too. Though, come to think about it, we wasted a lot of time pranking each other.” Regina replies, and presses her lips softly against Emma’s. Pulling back, she grins slyly. “Although we both know that was only because you wanted to get my attention since you were irresistibly and hopelessly attracted to me.”  _

 

_ Emma rolls her eyes. “Oh please. You were the one who would give me smouldering sex eyes whenever we were arguing.”  _

 

_ Regina rears back. “I did not!”  _

 

_ Emma smirks. “Oh yes you did. And I have proof of it!” She reaches her hand behind her, into her bag, rummaging around- and draws out a scrapbook, the cover of which is a small picture of eleven year old Regina stuck in the middle, scowling as her green hair glows in a halo around her.  _

_   
_ _ “The scrapbook.” Regina laughs, and traces the picture. “I tried for years to find this.”  _

 

_ “Yes, well I won’t tell you my hiding place just yet.” Emma winks. Opening it in the middle, Regina chuckles as a picture of her disgruntled face comes to view, this time sporting warts.  _

_   
_ _ “That was probably the worst one. I had to spend a week in the infirmary getting treated for those.”  _

 

_ Emma winces. “Yeah, that one was a rather cruel prank.” Emma says, and flips to another page. “Though, to be fair you had made me wet myself every time Graham came near me trying to ask me out.”  _

_   
_ _ Regina smirks. “That lumpy little idiot thought he could take you to the Yule Ball.”  _

_   
_ _ “Jealous?” Emma teases, and then points to another picture, where Regina is staring heatedly at the camera, the ground around her covered in swamp. “See? Eye sex!” She crows.  _

 

_ “Well.” Regina replies. “You weren’t very subtle either.”  _ __   
  


_ “What do you mean?”  _

 

_ “Well, do you remember that time Jefferson took me to Hogsmeade? Don’t think I didn’t notice you sneaking in the background making sure that he would trip and fall every time he tried to hold my hand.”  _

 

_ “Oh yeah, well don’t you remember that time…”  _

 

**********

 

The sun is shining in her eyes, this time, when she wakes up. Regina opens her mouth, cracked lips against the cold air, and tries to speak. But nothing comes, so she slumps, right against the cold stone, from where she’d been sleeping the night before. 

 

Twenty days. That’s how long she’d been in this hellhole. Everyday, Spencer would come in and ask her the same question. And every time, Regina would summon whatever she could of a smirk, and reply with either a  _ fuck you  _ or  _ I have no idea.  _

 

And everyday, Regina screams. 

 

Leaning her head back against the stone, Regina looks at the small window above her. Once again, she tries her wandless magic- but nothing comes. Regina suspects that they gave her water laced with magic suppressants, not that it matters. Right now, even without the suppressors, she could summon a fly even if she wanted to. 

 

Time passes either like sludge, slowly thickening and bubbling, moving slowly- or it passes by quickly, and before Regina knows it Spencer’s in the cell again, asking question. The only reason she knows it’s been twenty days is the light at the top of the cell, watching as it goes dark, and then light, and then dark again. 

 

Twenty days. 

 

Why’s Emma taking so damn long to find her? She knows where all of Rumple’s bloody safe houses were. She should be here by now, she should have rescued Regina- 

 

But Regina doesn’t waste too much time thinking about Emma. Despite the fact that there had once been love between them- perhaps even true love, Regina knows that Emma can hold a grudge, just like Regina. And if she is still somehow angry, if she blames Regina somehow for anything- 

 

Well then Regina’s fucked. Marian, and Mary Margaret, David and Ruby- what did they know. It was Emma, always Emma who will be the one to rescue Regina but now….

 

Twenty-one days. 

  
Spencer comes again, asks his bloody questions, and then leaves, tossing a meal and some water down. Just like every day. They’re not nice meals, obviously from her mother, but nothing like the filth they serve other prisoners which Regina knows well about. Some chicken, perhaps a bit of pasta or rice, and occasionally, an apple. But Regina knows to avoid the apple. 

 

You can’t put Veritaserum in water, or pasta, or rice, or chicken, because that would boil it, steam it, burn it, char it. The only few foods you can put Veritaserum in- is mainly an apple. 

 

Regina should know. 

 

So she avoids the apple, but she suspects that her mother knows she will. Just like she knows that she hasn’t been force fed the veritaserum because her mother know that Regina could wiggle her way around the questions, years of training herself to do so before the war coming into play. But she wants to play a game with Regina, a battle of wits, because she wants Regina  _ broken.  _

 

Just like she’s tried all throughout Regina’s childhood, just like she tried during the war. She’d thought she’d succeeded, numerous times, but then Regina would run back to Hogwarts, run back to Daniel, Mal and Marian, and eventually even Emma, and come back whole and even more rebellious. 

 

Twenty-two days. 

 

Or is it twenty-three? 

  
Regina starts to black out, as the water becomes less and the portions of food becomes smaller. 

 

She shouts into the cell, “Never thought you were one for starvation, Mother!” All that is delivered to her is a small roll of bread, a shallow cup of water and the customary apple. Two days later, it’s just some water and the apple. 

 

Thirty days. 

 

Still no Emma. She can’t have given up. 

 

James is the one asking the questions that day, and his methods are slightly different. But a welcome relief to the deathly magic that courses through her veins after Spencer comes and goes. On top of that, she gets to insult someone who will react, which is  _ fun.  _

 

Regina starts to eye the apple. 

 

Forty days. 

 

No Emma. No Henry. No Marian. No- 

 

Forty-five days. 

 

Spencer doesn’t visit, but Regina doesn’t notice. Her arm hurts, her whole body hurts. 

 

Fifty days. 

 

**********

_ “I’m going to her today.”  _

 

_ “You think she’s broken?”  _

 

_ “She’s probably wondering why her precious little Savior hasn’t come to rescue her yet. Doesn’t know that we’ve got her asleep in some cell, unable to wake. It’s quite handy, those sleeping curses-”  _

 

***********

 

Sixty days, and her mother finally visits her. 

 

“Mother.” Regina croaks, and straightens despite the fact that she’s so hungry, and the pain is clouding her every thought. “Nice that you finally dropped by.”    
  


Her mother stares at her, lips in a firm line. “What have they done to you?” She whispers, and for a moment there’s a flash of- 

 

“Oh, so you’re going with the concerned mother act then?” Regina raises an eyebrow. “That one stopped working after you tried to kill me several times during the war.” Looks like her snark still works. 

 

Cora  _ tsks.  _ “You know I would never kill you, Regina. Just like I know you would never hurt me.” 

 

Regina frowns. “Well, then you have severely misjudged me, Mother.” 

 

Cora chuckles, and bends down, stroking Regina’s cheek. “I don’t want you to be hurt, anymore, my darling girl. You can go upstairs.” 

 

Upstairs. How wonderful. “Yes, I am sorely tempted to walk up some stairs. What a luxury.” Regina grumbles dryly. “Although someone would have to carry me, my leg’s rather...broken at the moment.” 

 

Cora sighs. “You know what I mean, Regina. I love you. I want what’s best for you-” 

 

“You want me to succeed. Love is weakness. I know best Regina.” Regina mocks, parroting the words that had been repeated to her from a young age. “Mother, it’s been fifteen years. Even then, I know your little lectures off by heart.”

 

“Regina, please listen to me.” Cora says, and her eyes are sad. “You need to be by my side. Together, we can be so powerful. The life I’ve always wanted for you. If you just join me, you can be  _ immortal. _ ” 

 

Regina licks her lips. “Immortality with you mother, would be hell.” 

  
Gone is any motherly sadness from Cora’s eyes, and instead, they harden. “Very well, Regina. One day, you will break.” She spreads her arms. “You are immortal, here, with me and Rumple by your side. And so if it is tomorrow or in a hundred years, one day, you will be by my side.” She takes Regina’s chin in her hand. “We can be a family. You, me, Zelena, Henry” Regina shivers,  “and-” She smiles. It’s not a pleasant one, as though she’s celebrating a morbid sort of victory. “And Daniel.” 

 

The words hit Regina like a punch, and she gasps. “Daniel’s dead. I saw his body.” She rasps, and like usual, the involuntary tears rise to her eyes. “Don’t- don’t say that.” Cursing herself, Regina sniffs slightly, trying to lighten the victory that her mother must have gained from Regina’s plea. “You can’t trick me. He’s dead. He’s  _ dead.”  _

 

“Oh my dear.” Cora says, and Regina wants to claw at her, wants to rip her mother’s hand away from her chin where it is holding her firm. “Death isn’t finite.” 

 

And suddenly, for the first time, Regina is terrified. 

 

*********

 

_ “Why are you doing this?” Regina yells, as Emma whirls across the room, throwing things into a trunk. “We’ve graduated, why are you- why are you leaving?”  _

 

_ She grabs Emma’s arms, and the girl stills for a moment, and there are tears in her eyes. “We’re supposed to be happy, Emma.” She whispers, and pulls Emma towards her. “You promised me. You promised me we’d be happy.”  _

 

_ Emma’s hand comes up, and wipes away a tear that’s making its way down Regina’s cheek. Then, she presses her lips gently on Regina’s, before moving away. “I’m so sorry.” She says, and shakes her head, and now she’s sobbing. “If I stay here- If I stay here, bad things will happen.”  _

 

_ Regina’s world spins, and she clutches the bedpost near her. “What?” Regina chokes on the words, and sobs claw at her throat. “What?”  _

 

*********

 

“Daniel’s alive?” Regina whispers, and for the first time in months, she’s lightheaded with some kind of hysterical happiness. “You’re lying.” 

 

“No.” Cora says, a glint in her eye. “He was brought back.”    
  
“How?” Regina asks, her hands gripping at Cora’s dress, the other woman having stood up. “How did you bring him back?” Gone is Regina’s aloof attitude- this is  _ Daniel  _ they are talking about. Her best friend and the father of her child; Regina can barely even register all her instincts to be careful, because with Cora there’s always a catch. 

 

“Whale. Victor Whale. He was a year below you, remember?” 

 

Regina shudders slightly. The little creep had almost been expelled in his fifth year because he tested a potion on someone’s pet. The poor cat had ended up paralysed, trapped in it’s own body. Yes, she definitely remembered him. “Victor- yes. But  _ how _ -” 

 

“Magic.” Cora says, and her eyes gleam. “Or more specifically,  _ dark  _ magic.” 

 

“You’re talking about- about the most darkest of magics. The-” Regina gulps, and curses the little itch in her brain that want to learn more. “Forbidden magic.” 

 

Cora scoffs. “Forbidden magic. It’s not forbidden if you don’t listen to that mockery of a Ministry, Regina.” From under her robes, she produces her wand, and dark mist flows from it, obscuring Regina’s sight.  _ Forbidden Magic.  _ “Let me show you.” 

 

Regina wants to protest-  _ wants to say no-  _ but it’s so comforting, and familiar, and slithers into her soul. She shuts her eyes, squeezing them tightly, ignoring the voices. She’d always hated the way that dark magic had had that hold on her, how it made her very soul sing. 

 

It was the reason she’d never become an Auror. So much contact with the dark magics, powerful dark magics at that would only have tempted her. So she’d gone to Hogwarts, taught a subject she could  _ control,  _ one that was familiar, and safe, where the rules were set.

 

She was a prodigy at dark magic, as good as Rumpelstiltskin himself, or at least had been getting there by the age of fifteen. But she’d broken free of the addiction, rid herself from the shadows that had always lingered in every step she’d taken, and run. She never wanted to go back there, go back to the feeling of power and adrenaline that had flowed through her body every time she used the dark magics. 

 

_ But oh, she missed it sometimes.  _

 

“Look, Regina.” Cora’s voice breaks through the whispering voices, and Regina shakes her head. “Look. See what that power can do.” The voices grow louder, whispering their secrets that Regina wants to learn- 

 

It speaks of safety for her son, safety for her family. Power, making the world  _ right.  _ It speaks of bringing Daniel back. 

 

It speaks of how if she’d listened to the voices in the first place,  _ Emma would never have left her.  _

 

_ You can have it all, Regina. Everything.  _

 

“No.” Regina squeaks, and her voice trembles. She grits her teeth, ignoring the pain that thrums through her body like someone needling her everywhere at once, ignores the pit of hunger in her stomach. 

 

Until- 

 

She opens her eyes. 

 

***********

  
  


_ Regina’s thirteen the first time she casts a spell straight from the book of Forbidden Magics, during Christmas break.  _

 

_ “Say the words.” Rumple says, and his voice is something close to a warped tenderness. “Say the words, Regina.”  _

_   
_ _ Regina frowns at the spell, and licks her lips. “Adducere.” There’s a yell from the hallway, and one of Rumple’s followers is dragged in, contorted and struggling. Regina’s breath quickens in her throat, and she turns away. “He’s in pain.” She says, horrified at the tears in her eyes. “Rumple, he’s in pain.” She cancels the spell, the man lying on the ground stopping his horrible contortions, and breathes heavily- in through her mouth, out through the nose.  _

 

_ “Yes.” She hears the imp say, and he looks delighted. “That man is in pain, and therefore he cannot escape the spell, no matter how hard he struggles.” He turns to her, eyes gleaming. “Accio won’t work on humans- that is a well known fact. But a powerfully cast ‘adducere’ spell will bring a human. Naturally, by the time they arrive they might be dead due to the fact that the spell does not take into account that humans can’t survive being dragged through a concrete wall or through an ocean. However, if your target is near enough, and escaping you…” He trails off, and claps his hands together gleefully. “It’s banned because of the pain it puts the subject in.”  _

 

_ “Won’t the Ministry know that I’m practicing spells?” Regina says with a frown, looking at her wand.  _

 

_ “Wards around the house.” Rumple dismisses her worries. “Now, show me this one.” He points one gnarled finger at another spell, and Regina’s breath hitches in her throat.  _

 

_ “No.” She says, hoarsely. “That’s- that’s what my mother does.”  _

 

_ Rumplestiltskin’s previously gleeful expression vanishes, and is replaced with something far more stern. “I’m not asking.”  _

 

_ Regina knows she has little choice in the matter- this is her ‘destiny’ after all. Despite the fact that she’s vowed never to fight for the Dark One’s cause- when Rumpelstiltskin takes you on as his apprentice, you don’t have much choice in the matter.  _

 

_ “Fine.” Regina replies, a sick feeling bubbling in her stomach. “Fine.”  _

 

_ “It’s nonverbal.” Rumple says, and then giggles.  _

 

_ “Yes. I know. We talked about it at school and Mother- Mother makes me practice.” Regina replies, and closes her eyes, pointing her wand at her hands. The man is still lying on the floor, and when she opens her eyes, her hands still look the same. Regina approaches the man carefully, and kneels beside him. No movement, besides a slight twitch as Regina lays a hand on his chest, and takes a deep breath.  _

 

_ Then she plunges her hand right into the chest cavity, grasping something hard and warm. Out, and she now has a heart in her hands, glowing and red, and the man gasps, eyes shooting wide open. Regina swallows, hard, and cupping the heart gently, tries to give it to Rumple. The imp steps backward, eyes searching her face with some kind of wild glee.  _

_   
_ _ “Now tell him to do something.” He orders, and Regina takes another deep breath, trying to avoid the nausea from bubbling over.  _

 

_ “No.” She whispers. “No, I don’t want to.” Her voice strengthens.  _

 

_ Rumple sighs, disappointment thick in the air around him. “Well, you are young. There will come a time, Regina, when you will want to.” He eyes her with mischievous giddiness. “You will want to rip someone’s heart out, and crush it.”  _

 

**********

 

Regina opens her eyes, and there is a glimmer of lazy contentment within them. 


	6. Emma

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we go back, all the way. Right to the very beginning, when Emma arrives at Hogwarts. From her point of view. Sorry! Anyway, next chapter will almost certainly return to Regina and Cora.

_The girl stands in a white dress, in the middle of the courtyard. Wisps of darkness surround her, hissing secrets into her ears._

 

_She doesn’t hear them though, not yet anyway. She’s waiting for someone, and she reaches up to pluck the apple from the tree that’s right next to her, it’s branches curling downward so she doesn’t have to stretch. The girl giggles, biting into the apple, a solid crunch, and juice dribble down her lips. Wiping a sleeve of the dress against her dress, in a manner that seems more rebellious than instinctive, she tosses the apple behind her, and looks around, eyes gleaming as though she’s playing a game._

 

_“Are you here?” She whispers, and the darkness recedes for a moment. “Where are you, Emma?” She tucks a single tendril of dark hair behind her ear, and turns around, her face lifted up towards the moon, fully lit. She doesn’t get an answer, and the mischievous glimmer in her eyes falters._

 

_“Emma, come back-” The girl says, and her lovely face contorts into a frown. “I thought you would be here.”_

_  
_ _And Emma tries to reach out to her, tries to reach out to Regina, and that horrible betrayed look that she’s wearing, but she looks down at her hands and they are filled with blood, and suddenly she’s drowning, drowning in the certainty that Regina will get hurt if she reveals herself. So she stays, hidden in the shadows, watching as Regina’s face falls further and further into despair._

 _  
_ _“Emma…” She whispers again, shoulders hunching miserably. “You promised me, remember?”_

 

_I remember, Emma wants to shout, but then she stops. I remember I remember I remember._

 

_Regina turns from the light, and sobs, quietly._

 

***********

_2nd of August, 2017_

Emma wakes with a gasp, chest heaving. She hates the dreams, the ones that remind her of what happened, and why she left. Picking up the latest letter from Ruby, she sighs, disconsolately, reading it over once more.

 

_Em-  you stubborn troll,_

 

 _We’ve got a position open. Charms. Booth would say yes in a heartbeat partially because you’re one half of the dynamic duo and partially because he’s been a little bit in love with you since- well forever. Think it over. I know I’ve asked you, again and again to_ **_come home_ ** _but this time I mean it. Really. You know what’s been going on-_ **_who_ ** _might have returned. The rumblings- the murders- the dark mark, you know what it means. And we need you here, more than ever._

 

_So don’t give me any of your usual crap and get your ass over from lala land or wherever the hell you are. We miss you! All of us. MM keeps on bugging me about where you are, and she hasn’t seen you in what, since you left? That was fifteen years ago. It’s not fair that you’re blocking her out of your life. Just- just come home. Otherwise I’m going to track you down with that werewolf nose of mine and haul your reluctant butt back to Hogwarts._

 

_Love, Rubes._

_P.S- Regina doesn’t talk about you….and I know you’ve asked me not to speak about her, and I don’t and she’s asked me to do the same (you know, not mention your existence so she can forget and frankly I don’t blame her but still) so really you two don’t know anything about it each other but- it hasn’t stopped her from missing you. Really. She misses you. In a way that isn’t visible...but it’s there. I know- actually I don’t know what went on between you, not really, but I know enough to see that without each other, things aren’t the same. And I know you miss her as well._

 

Rubbing her fingers against that one tiny word- _Regina,_ Emma makes up her mind. Fuck the dreams, fuck the warnings. Fifteen years, and now it’s time- this is the time.  She’s going back to Hogwarts.

 

**********

_1st of September, 2017_

The journey is long, and hard, and by the time Emma’s standing in Hogsmeade she’s exhausted. Apparition has never been her strong suit- even after all these years of apparating from place to place, she still finds it hard to concentrate on that one destination. Others always come to mind, _(namely ones that seem like home but that she could never return to)_ and so often, Emma would just use a plane to get places.

 

Rolling her shoulders and checking her watch she realises that she’s horribly late. Groaning, she sets her teeth and thinks, _hogwarts, hogwarts, hogwarts- is Regina going to be there- nope, hogwarts, hogwarts-_ spins on the spot and-

 

BAM

 

She slams into something hard, and solid, and painful. The breath is squeezed out of her, and there’s a roaring wave in her mind before-

 

_Fuck._

 

She’d forgotten about the wards. Unbidden, Regina’s mocking thirteen year old voice comes to mind, another spat in which Regina corrected her with the utmost glee, _Swan, everyone knows you can’t apparate into Hogwarts_ and she quickly pushes her out of her mind. She’s done a good job, for the past fifteen years of keeping Regina Mills out of everything- out of her life, out of her mind. A steady stream of one night stands, the occasional girlfriend or boyfriend- nothing that stuck of course- has helped, and so now with Regina so close it’s almost painful for Emma to think about _everything_ so much.

 

But she’s in the woods at the moment, having been repelled off the wards, so she focuses on whether or not she’s been splinched. A quick checkover, and Emma is both relieved and surprised to find that she survived her encounter with the Hogwarts anti-apparition wards intact. And, to her delight, she finds she’s only a mile away from Hogwarts itself, meaning she can easily walk there.

 

But, then it begins to rain. And then she gets lost, so utterly lost. And then the solid dirt beneath her turns slippery, and muddy and soon she’s fallen about three times because she’s as clumsy as a newborn foal and-

 

Emma falls flat on her face again as her sneakers tangle with an unseen root, and she can’t help but chuckle because _of course_ this would happen. The mud, now in her shoes and on her robes makes her shiver, and she’s about to give up when-

 

Warm lights twinkle at her from a distance, and Emma heaves a sigh that’s loud and heavy. Because despite the fact that she’s never wanted a bath quite so much as she does now, she’s going to have to walk in there, late and muddy and see- well- everyone.

 

Wonderful.

 

The familiar oak doors greet her, and she passes through the wards, Hogwarts recognising her instinctively. Her magic thrums, as though it’s singing at being back in the place where it grew and was nourished, and Emma slides her wand out, trying to clean herself up. She manages to get most of the leftover mud out of her hair and off her face, but her robes are a hopeless case, so she just hopes for the best, and pushes open the doors.

 

The hall is silent, and there are awed gasps as she takes off her hood. "Oh- sorry I’m late.” Emma says with a slight grin to try and hide the bundle of nerves in her stomach, aware that she must look completely bedraggled. And then, when no one answers, she gets a slight panic attack, because _oh god_ what if she's arrived during some kind of - summer camp? What if she's early- the letter did say 1st of September and she's  _late she's so so late-_ "Um- this is Hogwarts right?" _Stupid Emma, stupid Emma of course this is Hogwarts._

 

And then she hears a familiar voice-

 

“Professor Swan, this is Hogwarts.”

 

Nothing registers, because all she can see is Regina.

 

It’s been fifteen years _(a number that Emma sometimes feels sick at because that’s so incredibly long, longer than she could have ever thought of surviving without her-)_ and Regina is older, more hardened. She’s still the most beautiful woman that Emma’s ever seen, still manages to take her breath away but- she’s _changed._ When Emma had known Regina, when Emma had _loved_ Regina, there had been a softness around her eyes, even when they’d been fighting. She’d had long hair, one that had always seemed to be braided or falling down her back in a cascade of curls and now- now it’s cut off at the shoulder. Her face is older as well, but in that way that Emma can’t quite pinpoint, because it’s not like she’s grey and wrinkled. She’s just older, and it scares Emma, how much they’ve changed and this is only from a first glance. And her eyes-

  
Emma wants to run from the hall the moment she looks at Regina’s eyes, which stubbornly trained at the spot just above Emma’s head, occasionally flickering down. She wants to run, and hide because-

 

Because-

 

Because her eyes, they look at Emma with such….such _fear._

 

Emma stares at her, and just _everything_ sweeps over her. “Regina?” She whispers, and her voice cracks slightly. Regina doesn’t answer, barely even spares her a glance, and Emma feels the empty hole in her chest just grow larger.

 

“I had no idea you’d be here-” Which is a _lie_ but Emma wants to make an excuse, anything to alleviate the way that Regina is now staring at her with eyes that hold a question she can never answer. There’s a pause, and then August steps in, a knowing gleam in his eye.

 

“Welcome to Hogwarts, Professor Swan.” August says, looking smug from his place at the head . “You’re a bit late, I’m afraid.”

 

Emma’s lip thin, and she tries to keep the irritation off her face. August is like a brother to her, and so _naturally_ he has to point out the obvious. She waves a hand, trying to dismiss the question- but then her mouth runs away with her. “Oh yeah, I missed the train, and then I tried to apparate here-”

 

“You can’t apparate into Hogwarts.” Emma’s head whips from August to where Regina is still standing. She’s still not looking at Emma, but the exasperation in her voice and face is clear, and Emma flushes.  

 

“Yeah I remember. Now- now I remember.” _Idiot,_ Emma hears in her head, _you idiot._ She shakes shoulders slightly, trying to get the echo of Regina out of her mind.

 

“But then I was repelled from the wards and into the forest-” She glances up timidly to see Regina trying not to roll her eyes, and then to Marian beside her who is winking not so subtly at Regina. Emma grits her teeth- leave it to Mar to make an awkward situation all that more terrible.

 

“That’s quite alright. Our caretaker Leroy will fix that.” Emma directs a look up at August, who is smiling far too widely to simply be welcoming a new professor into Hogwarts. However, hearing Leroy’s name, Emma perks up.

 

“Oh man, Leroy’s still here? I gotta catch up with that guy, it’s been fucki-ah- it’s been ages!” _Right. Kids. No swear words._ Emma feels herself go red for what seems like the fiftieth time that day.

 

There’s another pause, and Emma shifts, uncertain of where to go. She sees Ruby pointing at a chair the one next to- _the one next to Regina._ Emma glances up at August, imploring, but he just raises an eyebrow. Emma begins to hear whispers grow around her, and is about to run out the oak doors, when August waves a hand towards the empty seat, and then claps his hands

 

“Right, I believe that we should continue! Professor Blue, if you will?”

 

Hunching over, Emma makes her way to the table, muttering apologies to the first year students she brushes past. Ruby’s practically bouncing in her seat by the time she arrives there, and lunges at Emma to envelop her in a massive hug once Emma sits down.

 

“What took you so long?” Ruby squeals in her ear, before quietning after a quelling look from Blue. “I thought you’d chickened out and that we’d be short of a charms teacher this year.”

 

Emma hugs her best friend back, grateful for the familiarity Ruby affords. She’s hyper aware of Regina next to her, talking in low murmurs to Marian. She wants to say something, anything, but the words stick in her throat, and she freezes, her heart beating a mile a minute every time she tries to turn to Regina to say something.

 

“Are you going to talk to her?” Ruby murmurs, as the sorting finishes and the food appears. “She’s right next to you.”

 

Emma keeps her eyes on the plate, conscious not to let them flicker over right next to her. She can feel Regina next to her- the sleeve of her robe brushes Emma every time she reaches for a drink, and Emma gulps nervously.

 

“No.” She hisses back at Ruby. Then, louder, she says, “So, how have you been again, Ruby?”

 

Ruby rolls her eyes, and Emma smiles, all plastic and hard.

 

**********

 

Regina rounds the corner after their confrontation, and Emma presses her lips together to try and control her breathing. Her heart is beating erratically, and the tell tale burning behind her eyes propels Emma’s hasty retreat to her new quarters.

 

She enters the room, quickly shutting the door behind her, and then slumps over the side of her bed, kneeling on the rug, hands clutching the thick duvet. Tears fall, thick and fast as Emma tries to keep her quiet sobs under control. Pressing a shaking fist to her mouth, she closes her eyes.

 

What had she been thinking? That Regina would welcome her back with open arms, after everything? The floor is hard and uncomfortable under her knees, but Emma doesn’t have the strength to lift herself up on the bed. All of her willpower is going into not apparating out of Hogwarts, to not running away from Regina again.

 

There’s a knock on her door, and Emma lifts her head, hands wiping her cheeks in frantic movements as she tries to make herself look less as though she’s been bawling her eyes out for the past ten minutes. There’s another knock, and Emma growls, still wiping her cheeks, sniffing slightly. Walking over to the door, she opens it, a weak greeting on her lips.

 

“Emma. ” It’s Mary Margaret, and Emma presses her lips together, eyes wide. She hasn’t seen her since she left Hogwarts, fifteen years ago. Mary Margaret’s changed, become older, with eyes that no longer hold blind faith in good. But her expression is the one that speaks of complete understanding.

 

“Mary Margaret.” Emma replies, trying to shy away from the light that shining from the hallway, in order to hide her face. “How have you been?”

 

“Oh, Emma.” Mary Margaret says again, and it’s Emma’s best friend and she understands, so Emma allows herself to let go a little.

 

“I’ve missed you.” Emma says, glancing down at her feet.

 

“You never wrote.” There’s that touch of hurt in Mary Margaret’s voice, and Emma whips her head up.

 

“I’m sorry. I just- I couldn’t. Not after-” Emma shakes her head. “Not after what you told me.”

 

“I had to.” Mary Margaret replies, and her eyes are troubled. “I’ve regretted it every day since, but I had to.”

 

“I know.” Emma whispers, the hand that’s clutching the doorknob tightening. “I’m sure you got information from Ruby, about me. Where I was...and stuff.”

 

“And stuff.” Mary Margaret agrees. There’s a pause, and the two of them stand there, Mary Margaret shifting slightly.

 

“I have a son.” Mary Margaret blurts out, her voice nervous and tremulous. “His name is Neal, and he’s the most wonderful boy, and in Gryffindor, I think you saw his sorting, and we wanted you to be the godmother but you weren’t there, so you’re sort of his godmother but then Ruby’s also-”

 

“Oh.” Emma interrupts Mary Margaret’s rambling, and she feels something that feels like happiness rise into her throat. “Yeah, I know. Ruby told me. Eleven years ago- I- I tried to send a letter but I couldn’t-” She shakes her head. “With David, yeah?” Then she snorts. “Wait, of course it’s with David.”

 

“No, it’s with Graham.” Mary Margaret says, completely serious, and Emma does a double take, before slowly chuckling.

 

“You had me there, for a bit.”

 

“That was the point.”

 

Emma lets out a big sigh, and with it she blows past all the matters that are unresolved, all the things that they still need to talk about. Instead, a small, awkward smile forms on her face  “You...you want to come in for a bit? We have a lot to catch up on.”

 

Mary Margaret’s face lights up. “Yes, I suppose we do.” She murmurs. “And you’ve missed fifteen years of gossip. You should have been here when August got together with Ruby for like, a week. It was chaos. Of course, now they both realise that they’re better off being friends…”

 

Emma closes the door behind her best friend, and for a moment, the ache in her heart lessens.

 

*************

_5th of October, 2001_

 

_The morning Emma’s life changes forever, begins with Tangerine dropping the newspaper right on her head. It’s apt, actually, but it doesn’t stop Emma from being annoyed with her useless and uncoordinated owl._

 

_“Tangerine!” Emma grumbles, as the owl hoots and lands clumsily right next to her plate. The owl eyes her beadily, and pecks at her toast. “No. You get toast when you don’t drop newspapers on my head.”_

 

 _Beside her, Mary Margaret chuckles, and feeds a piece of bacon to her owl, Snowflake. Emma remembers snorting when she’d first heard the name, because it was so like her best friend to give her_ snowy _owl such an obvious name. Of course, the tables had turned when Emma had named her now cursed orange owl Tangerine. “That owl is as uncoordinated as you.” Mary Margaret says, and eyes the newspaper. “You going to read it? I only get the Wednesday edition.”_

 

_“So you can read your horoscope.” Emma rolls her eyes. “Just get the daily edition.” She picks up the paper, sipping a bit of her coffee, before choking on it as she looks at the newspaper. “Oh my god.” She says, quietly. “Fucking hell.”_

 

 _There, in bold bright letters are the words_ **_RUMPLESTILTSKIN CASTS HIS DARK MARK OVER THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC_ **

 

_“Shit.” Emma hisses, as she quickly scans the article. “Oh- god.” The article details how Rumplestiltskin’s forces stormed the Ministry, engaging in battle, wounding over fifty ministry workers before managing to escape. Every. Single. One of them. Two muggleborns had then been found dead outside of the entrance, and were perceived to be a threat by the Dark One and a promise of what was to come._

 

_Mary Margaret, who is peeking over her shoulder, has gone paler than usual. “My parents will probably call a meeting.” She whispers, and Emma nods. Mary Margaret’s parents are amongst the most notable families for fighting the Dark Forces, and were the ones who ousted the then young, rising star of a politician, Rumplestiltskin, for having murdered muggleborns as part of his agenda. Rumplestiltskin had then escaped, and everyone had assumed he’d gone into hiding._

 

_“He hasn’t been seen in- what- a decade and a half?”_

 

_“Sixteen years.” Mary Margaret states grimly. “No one thought he’d actually….amass a force.”_

 

_Emma shivers. “And he hates...muggleborns.” Mary Margaret places a comforting hand on her back, and Emma glances up, to see Regina stand up loudly at the Slytherin table._

 

_“Regina?” She hears Marian ask, but Regina’s pale and shaking, and Emma frowns as the girl practically runs out of the room._

 

_“Excuse me.” She murmurs to Mary Margaret, who shoots her a sympathetic look. “I just...need to take a walk.”_

 

_Exiting the Great Hall, Emma walks quickly in the direction of the school lake, spotting a dark haired figure sitting by the water. She breaks into a jog, and only stops a few feet away from Regina, to control her breathing._

 

_“Hey.” Emma asks, and she’s still a bit breathless. “You alright?”_

 

_Regina keeps her back turned to Emma, and Emma stays a few feet away, unsure of whether to move or not. “I’m fine.” She replies, and her voice is hoarse. She clears her throat. “I’m fine.”_

 

_“Are you sure?” Emma presses, and fiddles with the hem of her blouse._

 

_Regina’s arms are wrapped around her, and still, she keeps her back to Emma. “Dammit, Swan, just leave me alone, will you?” But Emma can hear that her heart isn’t in it, and decides to move forward._

 

_“I think we should be on a first name basis now, don’t you think?” She teases, slightly, and walks so that she’s standing beside Regina’s shoulder. Glancing over at the girl, she sees Regina’s tear streaked cheeks, and continues speaking. “I mean, we’ve had a few pretty intense make out sessions so-”_

 

_“Just….just stop.” Regina interrupts, and angrily swipes her sleeve across her cheeks. “Just because we’re-- I don’t even know what we’re doing, but whatever it is it doesn’t qualify you to suddenly know everything about me.”_

 

_Emma bites her lip, awkwardly shifting beside Regina. “I’d like to.”_

 

_“What?”_

 

_“Well, I mean, I’d like to know what’s upsetting you.”_

 

_Regina turns to her, and now that Emma can see her face fully, she realises that Regina is utterly distraught about something. “Why?” She asks, and her tone is low, and harsh._

 

_“Because I like you.” Emma replies plaintively, and reaches a hand up to brush Regina’s cheek. “I like you a lot.”_

 

_Regina laughs bitterly, her eyes fluttering closed as Emma’s hand rests on the side of her face. “You won’t like me if you know the reason I’m crying. If I tell you why this is affecting me so much.” She opens her eyes, and Emma meets them._

 

_“Try me.” Emma says, raising her eyebrows._

 

_Regina looks at her for a long moment, and then seizes the front of Emma’s robes, pulling her close. Gone is the vulnerable, bitter version of Regina, and in her place is something fierce, and dangerous. “Maybe I will.”_

 

_Emma doesn’t falter, doesn’t move. They stand there for a while, close enough for Emma to feel Regina’s shaky inhaling. And then Regina’s expression crumples, like a house of cards. “It’s bad.” She whispers, all previous bravado gone. “I don’t want you to look differently at me.”_

 

_And something in Emma’s heart warms- because this means that Regina does care, that Emma’s not the only one obsessing over the girl, and how she acts around her. “I don’t think I could ever look at you differently.” Emma admits, softly. “I’ve been- kinda crazy about you for a long time now.”_

 

_Underneath the fear that is stamped across Regina’s features, a certain shyness makes its way to her eyes, something which Emma so rarely get to see. “Oh.” She says, and there’s a blush on her cheeks. “I didn’t know that.”_

 

_Emma sits down, by the tree, and pats a space beside her. “Sit down. Tell me. I want to help.”_

_  
_ _Regina looks at her, indecisive. “We’re not friends.” She states. “What are we?”_

 

 _Emma shrugs, trying to keep away the nervousness rising in her stomach. “I- I mean, I would...like us to be_ something. _”_

 

_Regina bites her lip, and sits down next to Emma. “What I’m about to tell you...might change your view of me forever.”_

 

_Emma furrows her brow. “Okay.”_

_  
_ _Regina sighs, and leans back against the tree. “My mother...as you well know, has long supported the Dark One’s ideals.” She wrinkles her nose. “Which I do not, by the way.”_

 

_“I hardly think you’d be-” Emma shakes her head. “I know.”_

_  
_ _“And...so when Rumplestiltskin disappeared-- my mother took him in. He’s been in hiding at our manor for...well my entire life. I basically grew up with the man.” Regina says, but there’s no fondness in her voice, only cold, cold hatred. “And he’s been training me. Made me practice dark magic--” She spits out the words. “Cultivated me from a young age to be addicted to it.”_

 

_Emma feels the blood drain out of her face, and fierce protection for Regina blossom in her chest. “Has he hurt you?”_

 

_Regina looks confused. “Well-- I suppose-- but is that what you’re going to focus on? I’ve literally been trained from the age of thirteen to be a-- a weapon for a war.”_

 

_“Against muggleborns.” Emma states, bluntly. “I know. I don’t care about that. I know you don’t care that I’m a muggleborn. I know you’ve fought.”_

 

_“I have.” Regina whispers. “But it’s hard. It was so hard when I was a kid, and this person who-- who I’d known for my entire life just-- I mean--” She shakes her head. “It was an honor, at first, according to my mother. I always wanted her approval, so I listened to her. But now...now I see-- and now he’s back and I don’t want to fight.” She looks at Emma, and Emma is struck by a similar memory; a memory of Emma rejecting Regina on their first day at Hogwarts. She won’t make that same mistake now._

 

_“I believe you.” Emma says, comfortingly. “Don’t worry, I believe you.” Regina lays her shoulder on Emma’s, and cries, all the while Emma’s steady fingers comb through her hair._

_“He’s going to make me fight, Emma.” Regina’s trembling, and so Emma wraps an arm around her. “He’s going to make me fight, and kill. I don’t want that. I- don’t - want that.” She repeats, teeth gritted._

 

_And Emma realises that she’d do anything for this girl. “I won’t let them.” She whispers, fiercely. “Regina, I promise you, I won’t let them hurt you anymore.”_

**Author's Note:**

> I'm a bit of a Harry Potter nerd, so watch out for very specific references in chapters to come!


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